USIS names David Fontaine as Senior Vice President and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

FALLS CHURCH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--USIS, a national leader in employment screening, a leading provider of data and information solutions to the insurance industry, and the largest supplier of security investigations to the U.S. government, has appointed David R. Fontaine as senior vice president and general counsel and secretary to the Boards of Directors of US Investigations Services, Inc. (USIS). He will report to USIS CEO Mike Cherkasky.

Fontaine will be responsible for providing legal counsel, managing legal services, directing regulatory compliance, and overseeing professional integrity and business ethics for USIS and its affiliates.

“David has unsurpassed experience in managing legal and regulatory affairs and helping large, diversified corporations mitigate risks as they pursued growth objectives,” said Cherkasky. “As we continue to accelerate our market expansion and growth initiatives, his legal expertise and business experience will help us achieve our strategic growth goals. I am very pleased to have David on our executive team.”

Prior to joining USIS, Fontaine served as executive vice president, general counsel, chief administrative officer, and corporate secretary for Ruesch International, Inc., a provider of global payment services, where since January 2005 he was responsible for managing all of the corporation's legal and regulatory affairs and had oversight responsibility for the corporation's administrative functions, including human resources, compliance, internal audit, facilities, and risk management.

Fontaine joined Ruesch International after serving as executive vice president, general counsel, chief risk officer, and corporate secretary of American Management Systems, Inc. (AMS) from July 2002 to June 2004. For more than two years, Fontaine directed the corporation’s legal affairs, including the sale of the company to CGI and CACI, Inc. He also developed and implemented procedures and policies to mitigate AMS’ overall risk exposure.

Prior to joining AMS, Fontaine was executive vice president and general counsel of Dimension Data, NA (successor to Proxicom, Inc.) from June 1999 to July 2002, where he built a legal team and centralized the legal affairs of several U.S.-based operating companies. While at Proxicom, he served as senior vice president and general counsel. In this role, Fontaine managed the company's legal affairs on a global basis, including the sale of the company to Dimension Data.

Earlier in his career, Fontaine served as a litigation partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, LLP, practicing in the areas of white-collar defense and commercial litigation. Prior to his years in private practice, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and later as law clerk to the Honorable Thomas Meskill, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Fontaine is a graduate of the Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn., and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is admitted to the legal practice in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and Virginia.