Marc E. Gustafson

Marc attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, Political Science and Secondary Education in 1997. At UNC he was a North Carolina Teaching Fellow.  Mr. Gustafson received his law degree in 2001 from Indiana University, where he was a merit scholarship recipient.

Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Gustafson joined the law firm of Alston & Bird, LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. Alston & Bird is a national law firm with more than 900 lawyers and is recognized as one of the premiere law firms in the country. At Alston & Bird, Mr. Gustafson was a member of the Securities Litigation Group and specialized in litigating class actions involving claims of securities fraud, commercial disputes between businesses, and representing officers and directors.

In 2005, Mr. Gustafson returned to his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina and joined Kennedy, Covington, Lobdell & Hickman, LLP (now K&L Gates). There, Mr. Gustafson specialized in financial services litigation, public company board representation, and credit and lending . Gustafson was recruited to join the legal team of LendingTree, LLC in Charlotte, NC. At LendingTree, Mr. Gustafson managed the company's litigation portfolio, including a nationwide class action involving the theft of consumer data.  He also managed the company's mergers and acquisitions activity and negotiated numerous contracts on behalf of LendingTree.  In 2010, Mr. Gustafson joined the Charlotte law firm of Essex Richards, PA, and was elected partner shortly thereafter.  In 2018, Mr. Gustafson joined Bell, Davis & Pitt, a law firm where he worked as a law clerk in the summer of his second year of law school, as a Director.

In addition to his successful legal career, has been an active member of the Charlotte community.  Mr. Gustafson was elected to the University of North Carolina Board of Visitors, following a successful stint as the chairperson of the UNC Young Alumni Club.  He is an active volunteer with the Charlotte Arts & Science Council, as a basic Operating Grant Panelist, a 2008 graduate of Cultural Leadership Training, a former chairperson of the Young Donors Society, a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and the chair of the Public Art Commission.  He also served as a board member for the McColl Center of Art + Innovation and was the founding chairperson of the Contemporaries.  In November 2009, Mr. Gustafson was named Young Benefactor of the Year by the Association of Fundraising has been very active with, and raised thousands of dollars for, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program as a participant, mentor and coach.  He is a board member of the 24 Foundation, which raises money in Charlotte, Indianpolis and Baltimore for cancer navigation and survivorship.