Katie Jo Luningham

Katie Jo Luningham is the Director of Litigation Counsel for Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.
Prior to joining Sally Beauty, Katie Jo practiced civil and appellate litigation at Alston and
Bird for several years where she specialized in representing institutions of higher
education in litigation and arbitration and also defended corporate clients in data privacy
and cybersecurity litigation. Katie Jo was recognized for multiple years by The Best
Lawyers “Ones to Watch” for commercial litigation and has received recognition for her
commitment to pro bono legal service. She was also a member of the legal team that
won the Education Law Association’s award for “Best Brief” in 2017.

Katie Jo clerked for Judge Branch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
from 2018-2019 and began her career as an attorney at Husch Blackwell in Kansas
City, where she specialized in higher education litigation and regulatory compliance.

Katie Jo earned her JD from Notre Dame Law School, where she served as the
Executive Notes Editor for the Notre Dame Law Review, won the NDLS First-Year Moot
Court Tournament, and received the Dean’s Award for Legal Writing and Law of
Education. In 2015, she won a Burton Distinguished Legal Writing Award, administered
by the U.S. Library of Congress, for her Law Review Note on Title IX, higher education,
and administrative law.

Katie Jo earned a BA with Honors from Baylor University. She attended Baylor on a full
academic scholarship and served as the undergraduate assistant to President Ken Starr
during her senior year. Since 2018, Katie Jo has served on the Baylor University Board
of Regents as an alumni-elected regent.

She is married to Dr. Justin Luningham, an assistant professor of psychology at Texas
Christian University, and is the proud mother of two little Luninghams.