Chris Apple
Member Services & Development Manager
Arkansas
The CLOC Member Spotlight series profiles the incredible individuals within our community who are driving transformation in legal ops. Each spotlight provides inspiration, fosters connections, and gives readers a chance to learn more about their peers. By sharing these stories, we celebrate the diverse voices and talents that make CLOC a vibrant and connected community.
Todd Rovner is the Legal Operations Director for RTX (Raytheon Technologies). He serves as the regional lead of CLOC New England. Keep reading to learn more about Todd.
About me:
I began my career building and selling custom computers and office networks in college, which set the tone for a hands-on, problem-solving approach to projects, vendor negotiations, and initiatives others tended to avoid. After consulting in the credit union industry, I led SAP implementations and commodity supply chain efforts at Marathon Oil where I worked closely with attorneys on cost-savings negotiations, which introduced me to the legal profession.
An MBA prompted a move into Aerospace and Defense, and over a 20-year tenure at RTX, I held leadership roles across program management, supply chain, finance, and P&L, including leading a $250M government program with more than 110 people and standing up a common commodity procurement group responsible for $2B in annual spend. Following the Raytheon–UTC merger I joined a newly formed Legal Operations team and have focused on building and scaling an outside counsel engagement program centered on competitive sourcing and alternative fee arrangements. The role has grown into owning the full Legal Ops stack—matter management, technology, finance, and outside counsel management. I bring procurement discipline, pragmatic pilot-led change, and close attorney partnership to raise operational maturity, improve fee predictability, and drive measurable reductions in legal spend.
Why I love being a CLOC member:
Why CLOC? When our legal operations team was just forming, we were desperate for any helpful guidance on how to even get started. CLOC helped us connect with peers to share common challenges and best practices. The community helped us understand that we were not alone. Now, I take great satisfaction in sharing our experiences and helping small and large companies with their legal operations program.
My advice for other legal ops professionals:
Don’t be shy – go to local events and make connections. The community is extremely friendly and willing to help. Even if you are a Legal Operations team of 1, there are low to no cost solutions to help you be more effective and efficient.
A fun fact about me:
Most people do not know that I spent over 25yrs in Taekwondo, Judo, and Hapkido to become a 5th degree master. Also, my love of traveling has led me to visit over 65 countries with extended consulting jobs in Israel, Turkey, South Africa, and UK.
CLOC Member Spotlights provide an opportunity to showcase members within our community who are making a difference in their organizations, in their CLOC groups, within the CLOC community and/or the industry as a whole. Do you know of a really cool thing a CLOC member is doing? We invite you to nominate a member of the CLOC Community for a future feature in the CLOC Member Spotlights Series.