Ben Maiden and Ben Ashwell
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Former Church & Dwight CEO settles proxy disclosure claim
SEC alleges ex-chair did not tell board of friendship with executive James Craigie, a former CEO, chair and board member of Church & Dwight, has agreed to settle SEC allegations that he violated proxy disclosure rules. According to the SEC, Craigie stood for election as an independent director without telling the board that he had a close personal friendship with a senior Church & Dwight executive, in doing so causing two of the company’s proxy statements to contain materially misleading statements. Craigie, who did not admit or deny wrongdoing, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $175,000 and be subject…
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The week in GRC: Newsom vetoes California AI safety bill and SEC enforcement director to leave agency
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – According to The Wall Street Journal (paywall), California’s plans to require the world’s largest companies to report on their carbon emissions is inching forward despite legal challenges from opponents and waning enthusiasm for ESG goals in some quarters. Despite those challenges, many companies seem to accept that they will eventually have to engage in the difficult and potentially costly exercise of tracking emissions. The law’s main backer, California state Senator Scott Wiener, called it a ‘first in the nation’ carbon disclosure law, meant to be a step toward…
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Kinetik general counsel to retire
Todd Carpenter will step down next year Todd Carpenter, general counsel and chief compliance officer of natural gas company Kinetik Holdings, will retire from the firm effective February 28, 2025. According to Kinetik, Carpenter will continue with his current day-to-day responsibilities and help with the transition to his successor. Following his retirement, he will also continue to support the company, which has begun an internal and external search. Kinetik says Carpenter has been general counsel since the closing of the merger between EagleClaw Midstream and Altus Midstream, the transaction that created Kinetik. Before then he had been general counsel of…
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Wynn Resorts reveals general counsel succession
Jacqui Krum to take on the role early next year Jacqui Krum will succeed Ellen Whittemore as general counsel and executive vice president of casino company Wynn Resorts following Whittemore’s retirement in early 2025. Krum is at present general counsel and senior vice president at Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor resort, in Everett, Massachusetts. She joined the company in 2013 to work on the development of gaming projects in the US and abroad and was a member of the team that secured the competitive gaming license bid in the Eastern Massachusetts area for Wynn Resorts. In 2015, she moved from…
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Healthy farming proposal attracts support at General Mills
Resolution targets efforts to lower the use of pesticides in food production More than a quarter of votes cast at General Mills’ recent AGM backed a resolution seeking more information about how the maker of foods ranging from Cheerios and Chex Mix to Häagen-Dazs and Yoplait is progressing with efforts to cut the use of harmful chemicals. The resolution, which was brought by shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, asks that General Mills disclose the reduction of pesticides achieved by adopting its regenerative agriculture practices. ‘Industrial agriculture’s reliance on conventional farming practices – including monocropping, tillage and substantial synthetic pesticide…
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The week in GRC: DoJ tells companies to consider AI compliance risks and California alleges ExxonMobil misled over plastic recycling
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – CNBC reported that California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil, alleging that the company had for decades waged a ‘campaign of deception’ to mislead consumers and convince them that recycling was a viable solution for plastic waste. The lawsuit says ExxonMobil promoted recycling as a ‘cure-all for plastic waste,’ even though the company knew that plastic would be difficult to eradicate and that certain methods of recycling could not process much of the waste produced. It also alleges that ExxonMobil violated state regulations over water pollution and misleading…
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Match Group hires former Twitter general counsel as CLO
Company portfolio includes dating platforms Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid Samantha Wellington will join eBay as senior vice president, chief legal officer (CLO), general counsel and corporate secretary on October 7. In her new role. she will oversee all global aspects of eBay’s legal department, including government relations, intellectual property, employment, litigation, regulatory and corporate work. She will report to CEO Jamie Iannone. Wellington most recently was executive vice president of business affairs, CLO and corporate secretary at TriNet. In that role she led a team including members in the company’s legal, compliance, government affairs, customer service, sales, operations, product management,…
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New legal chief hired by eBay
Samantha Wellington was previously CLO and corporate secretary at TriNet Online dating company Match Group has hired Sean Edgett, a former Twitter (now X) general counsel, as its chief legal officer (CLO) and corporate secretary. In his new role, Edgett leads the legal team and functions across the company’s portfolio of brands – which include Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid and PlentyOfFish – and reports to Match Group’s CEO Bernard Kim. Edgett was previously CLO and corporate secretary of UPSIDE Foods. Before his time with the private food technology company he spent more than a decade at Twitter, most recently as…
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PNC reveals general counsel succession
Gregory Jordan to retire as general counsel and chief administrative officer The PNC Financial Services Group is promoting Laura Long to become its next general counsel. She succeeds Gregory Jordan, who will retire as general counsel and chief administrative officer (CAO), effective September 25. He will stay with the company as vice chair in an advisory role to the board and William Demchak, PNC’s chair and CEO. In her new role, Long will oversee PNC’s legal department and corporate ethics office. She joined the firm in 2006 and has been deputy general counsel since 2013 with oversight of various legal…
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The week in GRC: Groups urge US companies not to abandon DE&I and independent directors resign from 23andMe board
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) proposed that banks enhance recordkeeping requirements for accounts held by fintech companies on behalf of their customers. The move follows the collapse of bank-fintech middleman Synapse Financial Technologies earlier this year, which led to the freezing of thousands of accounts. The new requirements would ensure consumers have timely access to their funds, even in the absence of a bank’s failure, the FDIC said. Under the proposal, banks that work with fintech companies would need to identify the beneficial…