Marcia is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Prior to her role at Occidental, Marcia was a partner at Vinson & Elkins, with a broad-based energy practice, representing industry and private equity in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other corporate transactions and project development, in the upstream, midstream and downstream space.

Ms. Backus is ranked among the leading business lawyers in oil and gas and energy by both Chambers USA and Chambers Global, and was named 2012 "Lawyer of the Year" in mergers and acquisitions by The Best Lawyers in America. In 2016, she was named one of the "Top Women in Energy" by Texas Lawyer magazine. Ms. Backus served in numerous leadership positions with Vinson & Elkins, including on the firm-wide management committee and as co-chair of the corporate department and chair of the partnership admissions committee. She worked on transactions in more than 20 countries.

Marcia served in numerous leadership positions at V&E, including as head of the Energy Transactions/Projects practice, co-head of the Corporate Department, co-head of the Houston office, chair of the Partnership Admission Committee and as a member of the Management Committee.

Earning a Bachelor of Arts degree awarded summa cum laude from the University of Texas, Marcia went on to attain a J.D. with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif honorary scholastic society. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Houston Grand Opera and a Trustee of the University of Texas Law School Foundation.