Brian Fern

Brian Fern serves as Chief Legal Officer at Stout.  In this role, Brian provides enterprise-wide oversight of the legal and compliance functions.  Brian provides strategic legal advice on a variety of matters, including employment matters, data privacy, corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, litigation, and commercial matters.

With over 25 years of legal experience, Brian is a results-driven and forward-thinking legal advisor with a proven ability to drive business growth while mitigating risk. Prior to joining Stout, he was General Counsel of The Claro Group, a firm that was acquired by Stout in 2022. In that role, Brian was responsible for advising the business on all legal matters.

Brian’s in-house career began at Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting and outsourcing firm, and it continued at Aon after Aon acquired Hewitt. Brian subsequently served as Vice President and Segment General Counsel of Alight Solutions, a Blackstone portfolio company acquired from Aon. In that role, he led the legal support of a human resources and financial solutions business with annual revenues of over $700 million across North America, EMEA, and APAC. 

Prior to transitioning to an in-house role, Brian spent six years as an attorney in the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he represented numerous Fortune 500 companies in strategic transactions designed to improve their financial viability.