Vanessa Hickman appointed Deputy State Land Commissioner
Christy Myers Smith to join Brewer’s legal team
PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer today announced that Christy Myers Smith, a commercial real estate attorney, will serve as her new Deputy General Counsel. Vanessa Hickman who has served in the Brewer administration since May has received a promotion to join the State Land Department as Deputy State Land Commissioner under State Land Commissioner Maria Baier.
“I am delighted that Ms. Smith has agreed to join my excellent legal team,” said Governor Brewer. “Her experience in working with local and international clients in the area of governmental affairs, as well as the State Legislature, will serve my office well. It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with Ms. Hickman over the past several months. Her focus on real estate development, land use planning and zoning will be a tremendous asset to the State Land Department and to my administration.”
The focus of Ms. Smith’s legal career has been commercial real estate development and finance, handling land use and zoning matters for clients in Arizona and across the country. Most recently, she served as Assistant General Counsel for SunCor Development Company where she was responsible for legal and corporate governance for the company whose divisions include commercial development and construction, urban mixed use, master planned communities, community homebuilding, golf courses, mortgage finance and property management. Prior to joining SunCor, Ms. Smith was an attorney at Gallagher & Kennedy and Squire Sanders & Dempsey where her focus was also on commercial real estate.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University, graduating Cum Laude. She received her Juris Doctor Degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, graduating Cum Laude.
Ms. Hickman was appointed to fill the vacancy of Deputy State Land Commissioner created by the resignation of Jamie Hogue. “Throughout the course of her tenure at the Land Department, Jamie established a reputation for being a sound thinker and a true problem solver who significantly helped modernize and make the agency more efficient,” said Commissioner Baier.
“We are all grateful for her service. The Land Department is delighted to welcome Vanessa, who is an extremely experienced and gifted real estate lawyer. We know that Vanessa will help significantly in our pursuit to create and enhance the value of our state trust land and therefore provide additional funding to our public schools and
other beneficiaries.”
Vanessa Hickman has an extensive and broad legal background. She has practiced law with several firms, including Withey Morris, PLC where she focused on the areas of infrastructure and real estate development, land use planning, zoning, entitlement and development agreements. She also practiced law with the firms Wilenchik & Barness, P.C. and Wilcox & Wilcox, P.C. focusing on real estate litigation, family law, employment law and general civil litigation.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from Arizona State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She earned her Juris Doctor Degree from the Arizona State University College of Law. Ms. Hickman has been a member of the State Bar of Arizona since 2004.
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