Kelly Rentzel is an attorney in Bradley’s Banking & Financial Services Practice Group with over 20 years of legal experience, including 12 years leading legal departments at growth-oriented, publicly traded companies. She is a trusted advisor to executives and boards, building relationships within and outside companies to anticipate and solve legal issues.
Kelly has served as general counsel to three publicly traded companies. She was the first general counsel for a Texas-based bank that grew from $9 billion to over $40 billion in assets during her tenure. She subsequently served as general counsel for an M&A-focused bank with $12 billion in assets and 31 branches operating across several states. Immediately before joining the firm, Kelly served as general counsel for a high-growth homebuilder, where she guided the company through a $1.2 billion acquisition and provided legal support for capital markets activities, including secondary offerings totaling nearly $100 million and a $300 million high-yield bond offering.
Kelly began her career in the litigation section of a large, multi-national law firm and, prior to her in-house roles, served as a staff attorney and law clerk to Magistrate Judge Jeff A. Kaplan at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Kelly is a past president and board member of the Southwest Association of Bank Counsel and a past board member of the Dallas Bar Association. She has spoken at events hosted by these and other legal organizations on numerous occasions.