MELBOURNE, Fla., May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — InterActive Legal, a knowledge company and software solutions provider in the legal arena of trusts and estates, elder law, and special needs planning, announced the promotion of its 8-year veteran, President and Director of Content Development, Vanessa Kanaga, to the office of Chief Executive Officer. After several successful years in directing the day-to-day operations of the company as President, Ms. Kanaga will now be responsible for guiding the company’s future, overseeing new investments in technology, exploring additional revenue channels, and increasing the value proposition of subscribership.
Vanessa Kanaga replaces Michael L. Graham as CEO, who will continue his active involvement with InterActive Legal as Chairman. Mr. Graham is also a co-Founder and co-Author of the InterActive Legal programs. Ms. Kanaga, 41, began her career with InterActive Legal’s co-Founder/Co-Author and renowned Trust & Estates thought-leader, Jonathan Blattmachr, in New York. After moving from New York to her home state of Kansas, she was recruited by Blattmachr in 2013 to join InterActive Legal’s Content Development Team. Ms. Kanaga now resides in Arizona and directs the Melbourne-based company remotely.
When asked about taking over the reigns for all aspects of InterActive Legal, Ms. Kanaga responded:
“This is a time of great challenge and opportunity for the estate planning profession, and I feel very fortunate to be in a position to help attorneys meet those challenges and seize those opportunities. As I write this, InterActive Legal is in the process of launching a new online version of our document assembly suites, a development which will allow our subscribers to be more mobile and efficient, and will allow us to deliver content quickly and in a more modern framework. We are standing ready to address any changes to the tax laws in the near future, and we are looking to the horizon to see what content and technology our subscribers will need in their practice over the next several years.”
Ms. Kanaga received her J.D. from Cornell Law School, Magna Cum Laude, in 2006, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Wichita State University, with a minor in Music, in 2003. She received an Advanced Professional Certificate from New York University School of Law in 2011, and earned a Certificate in Business Strategy from Cornell University Online in 2020.
Following law school, Vanessa practiced in New York for several years, at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP, and then Moses & Singer, LLP. In 2012, she returned to her hometown of Wichita, Kansas, where she was an associate attorney in the estate planning and probate practice group at Hinkle Law Firm, LLC, before joining InterActive Legal.
InterActive Legal holds such a unique niche within the estate planning legal space, that an outside search to fill the CEO position never crossed the minds of executive leadership. Longtime CEO Michael Graham said of Vanessa:
“Having witnessed Vanessa’s growth these past 8 years and seeing her ability to understand the evolving needs of the business made her the obvious choice. There is no doubt of her commitment to InterActive Legal’s future.”
Consistent with her mid-western humility and sense of gratitude, Ms. Kanaga responded:
“I am incredibly grateful to Jonathan Blattmachr and Michael Graham, the co-authors and founders of InterActive Legal, for their vision in starting this company, and for giving me the chance to lead it into the future. I am also grateful for the support of my colleagues, who are at the heart of all that we do. Our hallmark is trusted content provided through excellent customer service, and we continue to earn that reputation because of the talent, effort, and attitude of our team. I am proud to work with them, and excited for all that we will continue to do together.”
About InterActive Legal
InterActive Legal, headquartered in Melbourne, FL, is a leading provider of software solutions and practice development initiatives to the estate planning, elder law, and special needs planning community nationwide. InterActive Legal’s automated document drafting suites helps legal practitioners in this arena make quantum gains in efficiencies and accuracy, thus enabling them to better represent the needs of their clients.
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SOURCE InterActive Legal
