Michelle co-leads the Gunster eDiscovery team and was instrumental in creating Zest in her image of an ideal vendor. She is a Chambers-ranked, nationally recognized litigator focused on eDiscovery law and strategy, data privacy, cross-border discovery, and AI technology exploration. She counsels clients on the development and execution of defensible eDiscovery processes in connection with contentious, high-stakes commercial litigation, products liability cases, antitrust matters, and internal and government investigations. Michelle frequently writes and speaks about issues and solutions related to electronic discovery.

Walker Hartz leads Zest eDiscovery as Managing Director. In this role, he is committed to a customer-focused approach, leveraging years of expertise in project management, cloud infrastructure, and consulting clients on defensible data strategy, scalable discovery workflows and the practical application of technology for legal and regulatory matters. Passionate about developing innovative strategies and solutions for complex eDiscovery challenges, Walker ensures Zest delivers exceptional results, helping clients meet and exceed their goals.

Christy Valdes is a dedicated legal technology professional with over 30 years of experience. Her tenured career includes large-volume arbitrations, mediations, and litigation cases in state, federal, and international matters. Christy enjoys problem-solving and collaborating with clients and case teams to resolve the unique needs that each matter presents. She believes that creating relationships with her teams allows for clear and concise communication, leading to solution-based success stories. A few of the many platforms she has worked with include Relativity, Brainspace, Concordance / FYI, Opus2, Trial Pad, and Trial Director, among other litigation review database platforms.

Before joining Zest and Gunster, Christy worked as a Litigation Support Project Manager for a global law firm in Miami, overseeing all aspects of eDiscovery. Her role included managing data collection, database administration, document review, and production, as well as supporting arbitrations, mediations, trials, and hearings.

A lawyer by education and training, and a consultant by nature and experience, Tom works to assist organizations with their information governance, privacy, and artificial intelligence governance programs. Tom takes a complex array of laws, regulations, and requirements and strives to create policies, procedures, and programs that are easy to understand, implement, and monitor.

Regularly sought after for his thought leadership, Tom has spoken and written on a variety of information governance topics, including the intersection of information governance with privacy and artificial intelligence, global and international issues associated with information governance, and topics associated with ethics in the industry. Tom is also a two-time award-winning publisher of articles associated with information governance, having won the Britt Literary Award in 2021 and 2022.

For more information about Zest's Information Governance Consulting Services, contact Tom at (980) 322-4679 or email him at tcorey@zestediscovery.com.