Ben Maiden and Ben Ashwell
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CSX announces legal leadership succession
Michael Burns will become chief legal officer in January Rail company CSX Corporation is promoting Michael Burns to become senior vice president and chief legal officer (CLO), effective January 2, 2025. Burns will succeed Nathan Goldman, executive vice president and CLO, who is retiring on January 1 after spending 21 years with the company. Burns is at present vice president and general counsel with CSX. In his new role, he will oversee all of the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, the corporate secretary’s office, risk management, police and infrastructure protection, environmental and hazmat matters and audit functions. Since joining CSX…
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Discover names interim legal chief
Kelly Welsh to succeed Hope Melhman, who is joining Ally Financial 2024 is almost over and, while it is not yet time to wrap it up (earnings season is not over yet and we still have a slightly consequential election coming up), it is worthwhile to return to one of the hottest corporate stories of the year: the larger-than-life fight between The Walt Disney Company, with its superstar CEO Bob Iger, against activist fund Trian Partners led by Nelson Peltz. It delivers great learnings for both governance and IR practitioners. This clash of the titans has had many plot twists…
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Nasdaq and Regions Financial win top honors at Corporate Governance Awards
Winners of Governance Intelligence’s 17th annual Corporate Governance Awards announced at gala ceremony in New York Nasdaq and Regions Financial Corporation last night won two of the top categories at Governance Intelligence’s 17th annual Corporate Governance Awards. Nasdaq was named governance team of the year (large cap) and Regions Financial was named governance team of the year (small to mid-cap). The companies were presented with their awards at a gala event in New York. The ceremony capped two days of events hosted by Governance Intelligence at Governance Live: the Corporate Reporting Forum and the Corporate Governance Forum. The Corporate Governance…
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The week in GRC: California climate law survives legal challenge and Southwest Airlines names board chair
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that a California judge is allowing the state’s carbon emissions disclosure requirements to move forward as planned – for now. US District Otis Wright said he needs more information before he can decide whether the reporting regime California intends to install violates companies’ First Amendment rights against compelled speech. The US Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups sued the state of California aiming to overturn two laws that will require large businesses to disclose detailed information on their carbon emissions and…
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Deere & Company seeks to omit shareholder proposal on DE&I policies
Proposal follows what As You Sow calls ‘an ambiguous and inconsistent shift’ Deere & Company, also known as John Deere, is asking the SEC for the go-ahead to omit a shareholder proposal from its 2025 proxy statement that seeks information about the impact of the firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts. The proposal, filed by As You Sow, asks Deere to ‘report publicly on the effectiveness of its efforts to create a meritocratic workplace where no one is excluded from contributing to the company’s success because of an immutable characteristic, such as gender, race or ethnicity. The report should……
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Nike names next legal chief
Rob Leinwand has been with the Beaverton, Oregon-based company since 2004 Nike has named Rob Leinwand as its next executive vice president and chief legal officer (CLO). Leinwand is at present vice president, deputy general counsel with the sportswear company, which he joined in 2004. In his new role he will report to Elliott Hill, president and CEO. Leinwand will succeed Ann Miller, who will become executive vice president of global sports marketing at Nike. She in turn will succeed John Slusher, who is retiring from the company later this year after 26 years. According to Leinwand’s LinkedIn profile, during…
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The week in GRC: First companies adopt science-based targets to protect nature and 23andMe appoints three new directors
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – CNBC reported that 23andMe appointed three new independent directors to its board, a month after all seven of its previous directors resigned. The new board members are Andre Fernandez, the former CFO of WeWork; Jim Frankola, the former CFO of Cloudera; and Mark Jensen, a tech adviser and former managing partner at Deloitte, according to a release. The only other board member is 23andMe’s co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. Fernandez, Frankola and Jensen will all sit on the board’s audit committee and compensation committee, the company said. Jensen…
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Kraft Heinz appoints new general counsel
Angel Shelton Willis is joining from Sealed Air Corporation The Kraft Heinz Company has recruited Angel Shelton Willis as executive vice president, global general counsel and corporate affairs officer, effective November 18. Willis is joining Kraft Heinz from Sealed Air Corporation where she has been vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary leading the company’s global legal, ethics and compliance, regulatory and corporate affairs functions since 2019. She previously spent more than 14 years at Ingersoll Rand Company (now Trane Technologies) where she held several roles, most recently as vice president and general counsel for Europe, Middle East, India and…
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ABM promotes next general counsel from within
Miranda Tolar will take up her new role in January ABM Industries is promoting Miranda Tolar to become executive vice president and general counsel, effective January 1, 2025. In her new role, Tolar will oversee legal, compliance, risk and safety issues for the company. She will succeed Andrea Newborn, who is retiring but will continue to work with the company during a transition period that ends in February 2025. Tolar joined ABM in 2011 and currently serves as senior vice president and deputy general counsel overseeing litigation and employment law. She was previously a partner in the labor and employment…
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Coherent hires former Mastercard legal chief
Rob Beard is also a former general counsel at Micron Technology Coherent Corp has recruited Rob Beard as the company’s new chief legal and global affairs officer and corporate secretary. Beard joined Coherent from Mastercard Incorporated, where also served as chief legal and global affairs officer. According to his LinkedIn profile, he had moved to Mastercard in 2023 having previously spent nine years at Micron Technology. During that time, he held a number of positions, most recently as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Before moving in-house, Beard was an associate with law firm Shearman & Sterling in…