Exxon Mobil Corporation’s “board of directors has elected Craig Morford as vice president and general counsel for the company. Morford is currently deputy general counsel,” reports ExxonMobil in their Newsroom.

“Morford joined ExxonMobil in 2019 as deputy general counsel after previous roles with the United States Department of Justice and in private industry. For more than 20 years, Morford advanced through the Department of Justice with assignments as U.S. Attorney in Michigan and Tennessee, and first assistant U.S. attorney in Ohio. In 2007, he was appointed as Acting Deputy Attorney General by President George W. Bush. From 2008 until joining ExxonMobil, Morford served as the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Cardinal Health, a multinational health care services company.”

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“Bacardi Limited, the world’s largest privately held spirits company, today announces the appointment of Todd Grice as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Grice brings 25 years of legal practice to Bacardi, including the last 18 with The Coca-Cola Company, with extensive business and legal expertise in corporate governance, competition law, securities law, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions. This appointment follows the long-planned retirement of Eduardo Sanchez who served as the company’s SVP and General Counsel for 17 years. Grice will report to Chief Executive Officer Mahesh Madhavan and joins the company’s Global Leadership Team. At Bacardi, Grice will be responsible for legal and government affairs including legal strategy, governance and compliance, strategic transactions, and dispute resolution and regulatory matters,” as posted on Barcardi Limited’s Media.

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Cox Enterprises has named Jennifer Hightower as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. “Hightower will report to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Dallas Clement,” was posted on Cox Enterprises’ News.

“Hightower has worked in the legal function of Cox Communications for more than 23 years, most recently serving as senior vice president and general counsel for the telecommunications division.”

“In her role as general counsel for Cox Enterprises, Hightower will lead Cox’s legal function, as well as serve as corporate secretary, supporting the company’s Board of Directors. Hightower will serve as the lead legal advisor on policy and strategic initiatives related to Cox’s lines of business.”

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“Principle Business Enterprises Inc. has announced the promotion of Tricia Bell to general counsel and vice president, strategic risk management,” was posted in the Sentinel-Tribune.

“As a member of the company’s senior leadership team, she will lead PBE’s legal and risk management efforts with a focus on risk mitigation and strategic direction relative to business and operational compliance.”

“Bell has been a leader of PBE’s Risk Aversion Team which is accountable for the safety of all onsite and offsite Associates during the coronavirus pandemic. Her contribution to this team has kept the company informed on health policies, associate benefit options and tax strategies that have allowed PBE to continue manufacturing as an essential business, as well as keep associates safe and employed.”

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“Fuel Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTEK), a technology company providing advanced engineering solutions for the optimization of combustion systems, emissions control and water treatment in utility and industrial applications, today announced that Bradley W. Johnson, 55, formerly Assistant General Counsel of Fuel Tech, has been elected Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Fuel Tech effective October 1, 2020. Mr. Johnson succeeds Albert G. Grigonis, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, who is retiring on September 30, 2020 after 17 years of service to the Company,” as posted on BusinessWire’s News.

“Mr. Johnson joined Fuel Tech in 2008, serving as Corporate Counsel until December 2009, and thereafter as Assistant General Counsel. Prior to joining Fuel Tech, Mr. Johnson counseled clients in private practice where he gained extensive experience representing companies in a variety of matters including securities law, intellectual property, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.”

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“Nasdaq-listed Barrett Business Services (BBSI) has appointed James Potts to the newly created position of executive vice president and general counsel. He reports to CEO Gary Kramer,” report Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“Potts previously co-chaired the insurance corporate and regulatory practice at law firm Cozen O’Connor. He has worked for more than 25 years as an attorney representing clients across a range of industries. In his new role, he is responsible for overseeing BBSI’s legal, governance and compliance functions and is part of the senior management team.”

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“The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company (Penn Mutual), a Fortune 1000 company, announced the promotion of Frank Best to General Counsel, Insurance and Corporate Secretary and the promotion of Ann-Marie Mason to General Counsel, Asset Management and Broker/Dealer. These newly-created positions provide increased focus on specific areas of the organization and strengthen the company’s approach to providing legal guidance and support to corporate and field offices,” posts Penn Mutual in their press releases.

“Best will be responsible for all legal matters associated with the Penn Mutual family of insurance companies. Throughout his 46-year career with the Penn Mutual Law Department, Best has been recognized as a true subject matter expert.”

“Mason will be responsible for all legal matters related to wholly-owned subsidiaries Penn Mutual Asset Management and HTK. Mason joined Penn Mutual in 2019 as Vice President and Head of Shared Services—Enterprise Compliance after 11 years with FINRA where she rose to the role of Vice President and Counsel. At FINRA she served as a key source of legal and regulatory expertise on subject matters affecting Registered Investment Advisers and Broker Dealers. She also exclusively handled all of FINRA’s high impact, expedited litigation matters.”

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Americor welcomed its “newest team member, Nima Vahdat, as EVP General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer. He will be responsible for all legal affairs for the company and advise regarding compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” reports Americor on Cision PRWeb.

“Nima J. Vahdat served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. In that position, he oversaw all Legal, Compliance and Human Resource activities for the organization. Prior to his time at Impac, Nima was SVP, Associate General Counsel for loanDepot overseeing origination compliance, fair lending, and fraud/AML activities for the organization.”

“In his career, Nima has worked in legal and compliance at organizations including Discover and Washington Mutual. Nima received his law degree from the University of Michigan, his MBA from California State University, Fullerton, and is also a Certified Mortgage Banker.”

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Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading developer of investigational ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) therapeutics, has appointed Ling Zeng as chief legal officer and secretary and a member of the Company’s executive leadership team,” reported in Dicerna’s Press Release.

“Over a career spanning more than two decades in the life sciences industry, Ms. Zeng has gained broad and deep experience in biopharmaceutical law and global drug development, and has held multiple leadership positions in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Ms. Zeng joins Dicerna from Novartis AG where she served as deputy head of the legal M&A group responsible for mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In her role, Ms. Zeng was responsible for M&A across all business units and regions. Prior to Novartis, Ms. Zeng held several senior-level positions at Bausch Health Companies, Inc., most recently as vice president and general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where she was responsible for EMEA legal matters in over 30 countries, and provided counsel on business development efforts, commercial operations, compliance, regulatory and IP strategies, and M&A transactions and integrations. Earlier in her career, Ms. Zeng was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York. Ms. Zeng was a research scientist prior to beginning her legal career.”

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“The EPA’s top lawyer, Matthew Z. Leopold, is leaving the agency after a nearly three-year stint and a mixed record in the courtroom,” report Ellen M. Gilmer and Stephen Lee in Bloomberg Law’s Environment & Energy Report.

“Leopold will leave the EPA in the next two weeks to work in private practice in the Washington, D.C., area, though he didn’t specify where. Principal deputy general counsel David Fotouhi will serve as acting general counsel.”

“As the EPA’s top lawyer since 2018, Leopold provided the legal justification for many of the administration’s regulatory rollbacks. His tenure was marked by efforts to push authority down from the federal government to the states.”

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“Hope Mehlman has started work as general counsel and corporate secretary at Bank of the West,” reports Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“San Francisco-based Bank of the West is a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas. Mehlman is now also corporate secretary at BNP Paribas USA.”

“Mehlman succeeds Vanessa Washington, who will retire from the bank at the end of the month after 14 years with the company.”

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“In-house hiring at fintech companies is showing no sign of letting up, and Robinhood Markets Inc is doing more than its fair share to keep up the trend. The commission-free trading startup said in an Aug. 27 blog post that Norm Ashkenas is joining the company as chief compliance officer for Robinhood Financial,” reports Caroline Spiezio in Reuters’ Business News.

“General counsel appointments have slowed as summer creeps to an end, but at least three public companies – Zoom Video Communications Inc, Geico Corp and Kelly Services Inc – recently tapped top lawyers.”

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“Kelly, a global leader in providing workforce solutions, today announced the appointment of Vanessa Williams as Senior Vice President and General Counsel,” reports Kelly in their Press Room.

“In this position, Vanessa has responsibility for leading the strategic direction of Kelly’s legal and corporate security organizations which includes managing regulatory and legal compliance for the company, directing Kelly’s strategic legal initiatives and providing senior management with actionable counsel regarding company objectives. She will also oversee Kelly’s global in-house legal team and be responsible for managing outside counsel relationships. Vanessa reports directly to President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Quigley.”

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Throughout the 3 days of sessions, you will have the ability to choose from a variety of sessions to attend, some of those included are discussion groups. These are sessions lead by the speaker as well as participants and you will have the opportunity to be on camera and interact in small group discussions. (note preregistration is required and session attendance is limited to 40 people per session.)

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“Covetrus (NASDAQ: CVET), a global leader in animal-health technology and services, announces the appointment of Jamey Seely as general counsel and corporate secretary, reporting to Dustin Finer, chief administrative officer at Covetrus,” was posted to Covetrus’ press releases.

“Jamey brings more than 20 years of legal and business experience within the energy, manufacturing and technology industries, including general counsel within two public companies. She has extensive experience in the management of international legal matters and building legal teams throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Her legal specialties include securities, board governance & compensation, mergers and acquisitions, financing, and project development, along with human resource matters and high-risk litigation management.”

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Rhonda Ferguson will join the The Allstate Corporation as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, effective Sept. 28. Ferguson will take the position over from Susie Lees, who announced her intention to retire in 2021. “Lees remains Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of the corporation,” announced Allstate in their Newsroom.

Ferguson joins Allstate from Union Pacific Railroad, where she has served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary and was responsible for all legal, regulatory and corporate governance initiatives.

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“Google announced that Halimah DeLaine Prado, a 14-year veteran of the company, has been promoted to serve as its General Counsel. The move would position DeLaine Prado as one of Google’s highest-ranking Black executives at the company,” reports Johan Moreno in Forbes.

“Previously, DeLaine Prado served as a VP of Legal for the company’s product team. She will report to the company’s SVP of Global Public Affairs, Kent Walker.”

“DeLaine Prado’s appointment comes months after the retirement of David Drummond, Alphabet’s former chief legal officer. He departed amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with subordinates during his time at the company.”

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“NYSE-listed Turning Point Brands has picked Brittani Cushman to be its next general counsel,” reports Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“James Dobbins, who is senior vice president, general counsel and secretary with the company, will retire on October 31 after more than two decades leading Turning Point Brands’ legal and governance functions.”

“Cushman is currently senior vice president of external affairs in the company’s legal department. She becomes deputy general counsel immediately, working with Dobbins on the transition before he departs.”

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“Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA) has placed Rod Boddie as general counsel for Congressional Federal Credit Union in Oakton, VA. The assignment was led by Deborah Ben-Canaan, partner and senior practice leader; Christie Babinski, director; and Kimberly Hulsey, director, of MLA’s in-house counsel recruiting group in Washington, D.C.,” contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor in Hunt Scanlon Media.

“Mr. Boddie is a seasoned legal professional who comes to CFCU after 17 years with Seneca One Finance, a specialty finance company, where he most recently served as general counsel and corporate secretary. During his tenure, he led Seneca’s legal activities, oversaw a 25-person legal and processing team, and managed outside counsel. He also held a senior counsel role at Winstar Communications and began his career as an associate with Miles & Stockbridge.”

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“A flood of fintech in-house counsel hires continued this week, with announcements from both Plaid Inc and Robinhood Markets Inc.,” reports Caroline Spiezio in Thomas Reuters’ WestLaw Today.

“Plaid, a software startup that Visa Inc agreed to buy for $5.3 billion earlier this year, on Thursday announced Meredith Fuchs as its general counsel. Formerly general counsel of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Fuchs was most recently chief regulatory counsel at Capital One.”

“Robinhood, a commission-free trading startup popular with millennials, said Wednesday that former Applied Materials and Yahoo attorney Christina Lai had joined it as deputy general counsel. She’s the startup’s third major legal hire announced since May.”

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