About

Nils H. Okeson serves as general counsel and chief administrative officer of Inspire Brands, a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 32,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide. Okeson oversees the legal, corporate secretary, risk management, lease management, and administrative services functions for Inspire and its brands. Prior to Inspire, Okeson was general counsel and chief administrative officer of Arby’s Restaurant Group. Okeson joined Arby’s as general counsel in 2005 and became general counsel of Arby’s former parent corporation, Triarc Companies, in 2007. In these roles, he helped lead the organization through several significant M&A and financing transactions as Triarc evolved into a pure-play restaurant company, eventually combining with Wendy’s International to form Wendy’s/Arby’s Group in 2008. At Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Okeson served as general counsel of the parent company and each of the Arby’s and Wendy’s operating companies. Following Roark Capital Group’s acquisition of Arby’s in 2011, Okeson remained with Arby’s as general counsel while assuming additional senior management responsibilities. Previously, Okeson was a partner at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent 15 years specializing in corporate governance, M&A, securities regulation, and corporate finance. While at Alston & Bird, Okeson co-chaired the firm’s securities and corporate governance practice quality teams. Okeson is an alumnus of the University of Virginia, where he received a Bachelor of Arts with distinction, majoring in economics and minoring in mathematics. He also received a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.