Kupferberg, Steven D.

During the last 25 of his 30 years of legal practice, Fred Kruger served as in-house counsel for Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. From 2000 through 2008 he was Senior Associate General Counsel and head of the Corporate and Commercial Section of the legal department. In that capacity, he was responsible for advising the company in the execution of its many diverse business transactions, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to procurement, marketing and promotional activities, as well as assisting the company with related regulatory, compliance and corporate governance concerns. As head of this Section he supervised a group that grew to twelve attorneys, four paralegals, one contract analyst and five legal assistants.

In this role, Mr. Kruger was responsible for advising and assisting the company in planning, negotiating, documenting and completing a variety of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other transactions. He was the architect of the company's highly successful investment program under which the company was able to acquire a shared ownership interest in many wholesalers which otherwise remained under independent ownership and management. Mr. Kruger and his Section handled a wide variety of legal problems due to the highly vertical integration of the company and its diversification into other industries, including not only traditional brewing but also agricultural production, can and bottle container manufacturing, production of other food, beverage and snack products, and operation of entertainment theme parks. While at Anheuser-Busch some of Mr. Kruger's accomplishments included directing the legal work for transactions involving hundreds of millions of dollars in many of these industries for locations throughout the United States and other parts of the world; managing the professional legal staff with an emphasis on individual growth, accomplishment and personal development; creating and implementing a management system which ensured prompt and appropriate review of the company's legal commitments and the integrity of contracts executed by it; assisting senior management with preparation of and acceptance by the company's wholesaler network of a restated national distribution agreement; assisting with the transformation and growth of the company's metal container manufacturing business from a position as a small, captive supplier into a major industry competitor which supplied many soft drink producers and other outside customers; and advising management on various corporate secretary functions, other related regulatory matters including Sarbanes Oxley compliance and corporate governance practices.

Mr. Kruger is also an Adjunct Professor at Washington University School of Law, and teaches a class on drafting commercial contracts.

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