Allison Transmission, Inc. (“Allison”) is the world’s largest manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems for commercial and specialty vehicles. Behind the scenes, two members of its legal team oversee entity management alongside securities work, board meetings and support for other departments across the company.

For years, the team managed around 30 entities using paper records and a SharePoint site. In 2022, Allison partnered with Athennian to automate recordkeeping and create a central repository for its legal entities.

Then, in January 2026, Allison acquired the Off-Highway business from Dana Incorporated in a $2.7 billion deal that added roughly 50 entities across several new jurisdictions.

The acquisition nearly tripled Allison’s portfolio overnight. Suddenly, routine questions became high-stakes: What did Allison own, who managed each entity and were the supporting records complete?

Challenge: records the team couldn’t verify

Allison’s headquarters keeps official records in-house for its US entities. Internationally, however, many jurisdictions require entities to keep their minute books locally. This meant headquarters wasn’t always copied on minutes, resolutions and other documents signed abroad. Even when records existed, nobody at headquarters could say for certain whether the record set was complete.

“We’re corporate headquarters, so we need to know what’s happening in every entity we own,” says Sherry Lupinetti, Legal Operation Manager & Securities Specialist at Allison. When we do a merger and acquisition, we have to figure out who owns what, and if we don’t have a complete set of minute books, then we’re in trouble.”

The gaps created work every time the team needed to confirm ownership, identify directors or prepare for a transaction. With roughly 50 more entities coming in, that approach was not sustainable.

When something was missing, finding it meant working the phones and contacting law firms and local offices one at a time until someone turned up the original.

“It was pretty hit or miss,” says Ana Alfonso Pallikan, Assistant General Counsel at Allison. “We came to the point where we thought there’s got to be a better way to do this.”

Solution: building the foundation before the acquisition

Allison implemented Athennian in 2022, a decision Ana describes as “providential” given what followed. With that foundation already in place, the team was better prepared for the acquisition and integration.

Before Athennian, the team filed records from law firms and local offices on paper or stored them in SharePoint. They had no reliable way to confirm whether those records were current or complete. Now, Sherry and Ana upload records directly to the relevant entity in Athennian using naming conventions established for each jurisdiction. These conventions allow them to upload filings in batches rather than handling them one at a time.

The team also uses Athennian to manage records in other languages. Rather than send documents to an outside translator, Sherry uses Athennian AI’s translation functionality and attaches both the translated and native-language versions to the relevant entity record.

During the acquisition, a dedicated Athennian consultant worked directly with Sherry and Ana to bring the new Off-Highway entities into the system.

“Athennian’s support helped a lot, sometimes acting as our consultant and guiding us through the process,” Ana says.

Because naming conventions and recordkeeping practices varied by jurisdiction, the team still needed to clean up some of the imported records. They now complete that work in one system instead of piecing information together from paper files, email threads and records held by outside counsel.

Results: one place to find the answer

The biggest change is simple: The team knows where to look. 

Athennian brings corporate records, minute books and ownership information that once lived across paper files, email threads, SharePoint and outside counsel into one repository. The team can now confirm ownership or identify an acquired entity’s current directors without tracking down whoever holds the paper file.

“Knowing that everything is in one repository and is as complete and accurate as possible gives us a reliable source of information,” Ana says. “Not having to wonder what we’re missing gives us real peace of mind.”

Translation delivers some of the clearest savings. A professional translation for a single entity would typically cost around US$1,700. By translating the document in Athennian, Sherry avoided that expense and kept both language versions attached to the same entity record.

Athennian also helps the team upload records faster. Once documents from a jurisdiction follow a consistent naming convention, Sherry can upload an entire batch with one click instead of handling each filing individually.

“It’s just one click of a button,” Sherry says. That efficiency mattered most during the Dana integration. The team continues to review records and resolve inconsistencies as information comes in, but now it can do that work in one system instead of piecing together information from paper files and offices across two continents.

Looking ahead: sharing responsibility without losing oversight

Allison plans to give select local teams more responsibility for maintaining their own records. Those offices will upload documents directly to their minute books instead of sending paper copies to Indianapolis or waiting for headquarters to request updates. Allison’s legal operations team will continue to oversee the process.

The team also plans to begin Athennian's org charts. Ana expects them to be especially valuable when regulators or partners need to see one part of Allison’s ownership structure rather than the entire organization.

Once Sherry and Ana complete more of the post-acquisition cleanup, they may also give finance, tax and treasury read-only access. Those teams could then find information directly instead of routing every request through legal operations.

For the two members of Allison’s legal team overseeing roughly 50 newly acquired entities, that is the real value. They needed more than a better place to store files. They needed a way to manage a much larger portfolio without building a much larger team.

Athennian gave Allison’s legal team that foundation before it knew just how soon it would need it.