Honig will serve as the key legal advisor to the president, board of trustees, and leadership throughout the University.
Rachael Honig, vice president and chief university compliance officer at Rutgers University, has been named University of Rochester senior vice president and general counsel. President Sarah Mangelsdorf announced Honig’s appointment, which is effective August 1 and follows a national search.
“I’m delighted to have Rachael join the University,” said Mangelsdorf. “Her background at a large, multifaceted research institution, combined with her extensive experience in the US Attorney’s Office and her strong grasp of the legal and regulatory environment in higher education and health care, will immediately bring great value to our institution.
“On behalf of the Senior Leadership Team, we look forward to her leadership and the meaningful impact she will make across our University community.”
University general counsel has oversight for all institutional legal matters, inclusive of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and leads the attorneys and day-to-day operations of the University’s Office of Counsel. A member of the University’s senior leadership team, the senior vice president and general counsel is the key legal advisor to the president, board of trustees, and leadership throughout the University.
At Rutgers—New Jersey’s flagship public university with an academic medical center—Honig provides leadership and counsel to the president and senior management, as well as the boards of Governors and Trustees on all legal compliance matters.
Her legal experience in higher education and health care includes expertise in the areas of Title IX, ADA, human resources, policy development and compliance, enterprise risk management, and internal audit. She additionally navigates complex legal and regulatory challenges within research enterprises, including compliance, intellectual property management, and collaborative partnerships across academic and industry settings.
Honig oversees Rutgers’ University Ethics & Compliance and Audit & Advisory Services, ensuring compliance by the university and its employees with respect to relevant federal, state, and international statutes and regulations, codes, and mandates, as well as university policies and protocols, including those pertaining to ethical codes and standards.
In 2021, she served as the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey—only the second woman to hold that position in the office’s more than 200-year history, and the first in more than 20 years. She also worked in the US Attorney’s Office from 2018 to 2022 as the First Assistant US Attorney and from 2003 to 2016 as an Assistant US Attorney, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division (2010–13), and Counsel to the US Attorney (2013–16). From 2016 to 2018, she worked as a litigation and investigations attorney at a biopharmaceutical company.
After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Honig was a judicial law clerk for the Hon. Mary M. Schroeder of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and a litigation associate at a law firm in Washington, DC. She is a member of the National Association of College & University Attorneys, and the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics.
“I am excited to join an institution of the extraordinary caliber of the University of Rochester, as well as a legal team with an already excellent reputation for dedication, collaboration, knowledge and expertise,” says Honig. “I am grateful to President Mangelsdorf, her senior leadership team, the search committee, and the many other medical center and academic partners who were part of the search, for placing their trust in me. I look forward to working with all members of the University community to build on those strengths, always striving to be ever better.”
Honig succeeds Donna Gooden Payne, who in October announced her retirement effective at the end of July.
