“Tru Kids Brands, the parent of Toys‘R’Us and Babies‘R’Us created in January 2019, has hired Anand Shah as general counsel,” reports Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“Shah most recently worked as assistant general counsel for North America at chocolate company Ferrero, where he advised the business on issues such as acquisitions, e-commerce, retail operations, manufacturing, supply chain, financings and litigation.”

“Before that he was corporate counsel at Toys‘R’Us from 2012 to 2017. In that role he was responsible for global corporate governance, negotiating and implementing strategic partnerships and supporting financing activities and licensing transactions.”

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FTI Consulting, Inc. provided its findings for the “Technology segment’s second annual study of corporate legal departments, in partnership with Relativity. Based on a detailed survey and one-on-one interviews by Ari Kaplan with chief legal officers at companies of all sizes, The General Counsel Report 2021: Rising to Today’s Challenges and Building Resilience for the Future, outlines the elevated responsibilities general counsel have taken on amid the pandemic and current social climate,” posted FTI Consulting.

“Notably, the majority of respondents indicated moderate to significant difficulties in navigating today’s top challenges, including widely dispersed workforces, emerging data types, technology adoption and tackling diversity, equity and inclusion. The report shares the strategies counsel are implementing to overcome these and other issues, establish resiliency for the future and adjust to the changing demands of their role.”

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“Joia Johnson, chief administrative officer, general counsel and corporate secretary of Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based HanesBrands, plans to retire, effective May 2021,” reports HanesBrands in their Newsroom.

“HanesBrands is conducting an internal and external search for her replacement, according to the company.”

“Johnson joined NYSE-listed HanesBrands as chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary in 2007. She took up her present role in 2016, and has responsibility for legal, CSR, government affairs, real estate and human resources.”

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Tru Kids Brands™, parent of the Toys”R”Us® brand announced the appointment of Anand Shah as General Counsel, through Cision PR Newswire.

“Anand Shah returns bringing a wealth of experience in the retail and consumer products industries, as well as a deep understanding of the Toys”R”Us brand and its global footprint. As Corporate Counsel at Toys”R”Us from 2012 to 2017, Anand was responsible for global corporate governance, negotiating and implementing strategic partnerships, and supporting financing activities and licensing transactions. Most recently, he served as Assistant General Counsel-North America for Ferrero, where he counseled and advised the business on all aspects of its North American operations, including acquisitions, e-commerce, retail operations, manufacturing, supply chain, financings and litigation. From 2007 to 2012, Anand was a corporate attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP focusing on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.”

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“The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the appointment of David L. Berdan as its new General Counsel,” released United States Patent and Trademark Office in News and Updates.

“As General Counsel, Mr. Berdan will serve as the principal legal advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. Mr. Berdan will also supervise the Office of General Counsel and its three component offices: the Office of the Solicitor, the Office of General Law, and the Office of Enrollment and Discipline.”

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“Flueid, a fast-growing insurtech company accelerating the title insurance, real estate and mortgage lending industries by providing modern digital solutions to traditional inefficiencies, today announced the addition of Jerry Burditt as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. In his new role, Burditt will lead the legal and compliance teams for Flueid,” posted Flueid on BusinessWire.

“With more than 25 years in senior management roles in the real estate technology and mortgage lending sectors, Burditt joins Flueid from Realty.com where he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel/Brokerage Operations. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Technology, Data & IP Counsel at Xome Holdings LLC and also held tenure as Chief Division Counsel at Black Knight Financial Services. Burditt’s respected legal career was first established with a successful practice in commercial litigation. Over more than two decades, he has provided leadership and guidance in the development and management of technologies ranging from mortgage loan origination, mortgage servicing, real estate settlement services, government-facing technology, and a variety of other real estate software applications.”

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“Thomas Pinder will become the general counsel of the American Bankers Association, the trade group announced Thursday,” reports Brendan Pedersen in American Banker’s Career Moves.

“Pinder, who has worked at the ABA since 2012 and has been deputy counsel since 2017, will succeed Dawn Causey, who has been general counsel since 2003. Causey will retire this month, the ABA said in a press release.”

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“NYU President Andrew Hamilton today announced the appointment of Aisha Oliver-Staley, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as NYU’s General Counsel and University Secretary. She will join NYU’s leadership team January 2021,” reports NYU in News, Publications, and Facts.

“Aisha Oliver-Staley has been with Georgia Tech’s counsel’s office since 2011 in positions of expanding responsibility, including a period as their interim general counsel. During her tenure there, she was deeply involved in international projects, compliance and ethics, facilities development, fundraising, export controls, investigations, and personnel matters, to name just a few areas of experience. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, she was an associate at McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta, where she worked on general corporate matters for both non-profit and for-profit organizations, as well as municipal finance matters.”

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“On Friday Coinbase Inc. announced the appointment of former Google Senior Legal Director Milana McCullagh as deputy general counsel for product and commercial legal,” reports Husayn Hashim in Cointelegraph.

“McCullagh, who worked for more than 13 years at Google, will work across functions at Coinbase on product legal support, helping the firm to streamline legal compliance for new product launches.”

“McCullagh’s appointment is part of both a Coinbase campaign to attract legal talent that started last year, as well as a broader industry-wide movement of top-tier attorneys joining crypto firms.”

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“Edgewise Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule therapies for musculoskeletal diseases, today announced the appointment of John Moore to the newly created position of General Counsel. Mr. Moore has many years of experience as General Counsel for small molecule biopharmaceutical companies working in a range of therapeutic areas. This comes at an important time as Edgewise advances EDG-5506, the company’s lead product candidate, in clinical development for Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD and BMD),” posts Edgewise Therapeutics in News.

“Prior to joining Edgewise, Mr. Moore was General Counsel and Secretary at Peloton Therapeutics, where he led the legal aspects of the company’s initial public offering (IPO) efforts and was a key advisor on its acquisition by Merck on the eve of its planned IPO. Previously, Mr. Moore served for 15 years as General Counsel and Secretary at Array BioPharma Inc., and for 5 years on the board of directors of Nivalis Therapeutics. Mr. Moore began his legal career as an attorney in private practice. Mr. Moore holds a B.S. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina, an M.S. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina.”

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First National Realty Partners, a leading private equity real estate firm, is pleased to announce that Zain A. Naqvi has joined the team as General Counsel and Head of Legal, announced First National Realty Partners.

“Zain A. Naqvi will be overseeing all legal matters as it relates to sales, acquisitions, leasing and financing of FNRP’s portfolio of office and retail properties. Mr. Naqvi brings over a decade of varied and diversified commercial real estate experience, with a focus on acquisitions, sales, investment, commercial financing and leasing transactions, and related litigation. He spent several years practicing in Manhattan at one of New York City’s most prestigious commercial real estate law firms, where he represented some of New York City’s most prominent real estate developers and landlords, including both privately held and publicly traded REITs, in complex real estate transactions and litigations. He furthered his practice in the real estate group of one of New Jersey’s largest law firms, where he concentrated on acquisitions and sales, leasing, and commercial lending.”

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“Johnna Spera was appointed senior vice president and general counsel, a position she has held on an interim basis since February,” posts Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in AviationPros.

“Spera, who served as deputy vice president and deputy general counsel before stepping into the acting general counsel position, brings more than 30 years of experience to her new role as chief legal officer for the Airports Authority. Her selection follows an extensive nationwide search process.”

“After joining the Airports Authority in 2009 as associate general counsel, Spera focused on Phase one of the Silver Line Metrorail construction project. In the 11 years since, she has led the legal efforts for Project Journey, the $1 billion capital improvement project at Reagan National, revised the Airports Authority’s contracting manual, negotiated numerous revenue-producing easements and licenses at both Reagan National and Dulles International airports and handled legal aspects of the Airports Authority’s $236.5 million sale of its western lands parcel at Dulles International.”

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“Rockefeller Capital Management… announced the appointment of William ‘Billy’ Fenrich as General Counsel. Fenrich will be a member of the Executive Committee and will be based in New York,” was posted in BusinessWire.

“Prior to joining Rockefeller, Fenrich was the Chief Legal Officer at AQR Capital Management and a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Previously, Fenrich was the Global Chief Compliance Officer for Morgan Stanley and a member of the firm’s Management and Risk Committees. Fenrich also served as General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of Point State Capital, from its 2010 spin-out from Duquesne Capital until 2014. He started his career at Davis Polk & Wardwell in 1999 and was named partner in 2005.”

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“Acker, the world’s destination for fine and rare wine, announced today the appointment of Stacey Chervin Sigda as the company’s General Counsel. The announcement comes on the heels of Acker’s latest appointments of Jamie Pollack as Global Managing Director of Business Development and Sales, and Alicia Martell, Global Head of Authentication and Quality Control,” was posted in Cision PRWeb.

“Stacey previously served as Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Global Employment Counsel at a competing firm, and will be bringing her extensive wealth of expertise in legal compliance, litigation, negotiations, and mergers and acquisitions to Acker. With her almost three decades of legal experience and specialized knowledge of the wine business, Stacey has spearheaded significant legal work within the auction industry.”

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“McDonald’s Corp. general counsel and executive vice president Jerry Krulewitch has retired at the suggestion of his doctors after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, according to a securities filing from the fast food giant,” reports Ruiqi Chen in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“The Chicago-based fast food company’s U.S. general counsel Mahrukh Hussain is serving as interim general counsel during the search for Krulewitch’s replacement, McDonald’s said in the Thursday filing.”

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“NOVI—ITC Holdings Corp., the nation’s largest independent electricity transmission company in the United States, has named Jenny D’Anna as vice president and deputy general counsel, legal services,” reports Matt Roush in MITECHNEWS.

“In this role, D’Anna is responsible for the legal services group within ITC’s legal department. That group is composed of the regulatory and legislative, development, corporate and securities, real estate, capital projects and maintenance, and business operations, contracts and technology practice areas across the company’s seven-state service territory.”

“D’Anna joined ITC in 2010 and most recently served as assistant general counsel for utility operations for ITC Holdings. Prior to joining ITC, she worked in private practice specializing in real estate transactions.”

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“Docupace, the leader in cloud-based fintech digital operations software for the wealth management industry, today announced Kevin Armstrong as the company’s general counsel and chief legal officer. Armstrong will oversee all legal matters and direct risk, compliance, audit and governance functions for Docupace. He will report to chief executive officer David Knoch, serve as a member of Docupace’s executive leadership team, and work closely with Knoch on any mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity the company chooses to pursue in the future,” reports Docupace in News & Events.

“Armstrong has deep experience with legal and operational issues related to product and service offerings to broker-dealers and registered investment advisers (RIAs), including clearing, custody, cloud services, artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital currencies, data rights, and compliance with evolving privacy and information security laws and regulations.”

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“BBAM Limited Partnership (“BBAM”) announced … the appointment of Vincent Cannon to the role of General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer,” reported by BBAM Limited Partnership via Cision’s PR Newswire.

“Mr. Cannon is currently Senior Vice President, Corporate Legal, a position he has held since joining BBAM in 2014. Prior to joining BBAM, Mr. Cannon practiced law at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.”

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“Argo Group International Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: ARGO) (“Argo” or “the company”), an underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, today announced the appointment of Allison Kiene to serve as the company’s general counsel. In this role, Kiene will be responsible for the company’s legal and compliance teams and will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rehnberg,” released Argo Group in its News Releases.

“Kiene joins Argo from Sompo International Holdings Ltd., where she served as assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer, data protection officer. She held similar roles with increasing responsibility at Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd., Blue Capital Management Ltd. and Familymeds Group Inc. Kiene has a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy and a Juris Doctor in law from the University of Connecticut.”

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Richmond-based commercial construction and development firm Hourigan has hired David Ryan as chief financial officer and Kelley Holland as general counsel, announced Hourigan.

“Kelley Holland, General Counsel, joins Hourigan from the law firm Williams Mullen. As an attorney and partner in the Litigation Section, her practice was focused on general commercial, environmental and construction litigation in both state and federal courts. Prior to her practice at Williams Mullen, Kelley served as a law clerk for The Honorable D. Arthur Kelsey who was then with of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. She also served as a summer law clerk for the Virginia Beach Circuit Court, 2^nd Judicial Circuit of Virginia and worked with the law firm Marcus, Santoro & Kozak while attending law school. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Spanish from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from Regent University School of Law.”

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