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Plus Toyota, Barclays and Par Health make changes to their governance teams Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the US operator of chain of restaurants and gift stores, has named Jennifer Lankford as the company’s next SVP, general counsel and corporate secretary. Lankford will replace Richard Wolfson who retired from the position at the start of the month. She currently serves as the company’s vice president and deputy general counsel. Prior to joining Cracker Barrell in 2018 as senior corporate counsel, Lankford held a number of roles at law firms Cornelius & Collins and Thompson Burton. Staying in the US, Toyota…

Plus WesBanco, Maximus and Littelfuse bolster their compliance teams Nasdaq-listed investment management and insurance firm Principal Financial Group has appointed Tim Brown as its new EVP, general counsel and secretary. As of June 8, Brown will lead the company’s legal, government relations and compliance activities and serve as general counsel for its board of directors. Before joining Principal Financial, Brown served as VP, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Venerable Holdings. Prior to that, he served as VP and chief counsel for M&A, corporate transactions and insurance regulatory at Voya. ‘Tim is a proven leader with a track record…

Plus Electrolux, Howmet Aerospace and Sodexo make leadership changes Lumen Technologies, the winner of the best shareholder engagement (small to mid-cap) trophy at the 2025 Corporate Governance Awards, has named Jennifer Hodges as its new EVP and chief legal officer. Hodges will take over from Mark Hacker who is retiring ‘to pursue a vocation in ministry, entering formation for the diaconate’ according to a press release from the company. He will stay in a supervisory role until May 15. Prior to her promotion, Hodges served as SVP of corporate governance at Lumen. Before joining the company, she served as a…

Plus Nauticus Robotics, Geron and Prothena expand their legal teams Colgate-Palmolive has confirmed that Betsy Fishbone will serve as the company’s new chief legal officer and secretary, as of June 01. Fishbone currently serves as EVP, deputy chief legal officer and has been with the company since 2001. Fishbone is to succeed Jennifer Daniels who has served in the role since 2014. From June 01, Daniels will act as vice chair of the company to oversee an orderly transition of responsibilities. On the regulatory side of things, the SEC has named David Woodcock as director of the Division of Enforcement.…

Plus Tripadvisor, Braze and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners change their governance teams Intel Corporation has appointed Aparna Bawa as its new EVP, chief legal and people officer. Bawa succeeds April Miller Boise, who was confirmed to be leaving the company as of June 1 after serving with the company since 2022. Reporting to Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Bawa will lead Intel’s global legal, ethics, compliance, people and culture organizations. She joins from Zoom, where she served as chief operating officer. Before that, Bawa held senior legal and leadership roles in the technology industry for the likes of Magento Commerce, Nimble Storage…

Plus Air France-KLM, Bridger Aerospace and Vera Therapeutics expand their legals teams Siemens USA, a subsidiary of Siemens AG, has announced the appointment of Skip Lockard as its new SVP and general counsel. In this role, Lockard will lead Siemens USA’s team of legal, compliance and intellectual property professionals. Lockard joined Siemens in 2011 as most recently served as the company’s US deputy general counsel.Over the course of his tenure, he has led US litigation and the corporate legal team supporting governance, technology, procurement, communications and employment matters. He also served as lead US counsel to Siemens’ former Industry Automation…

Plus Aquestive Therapeutics and QuidelOrtho have appointed new legal chiefs Madison Square Garden Entertainment and Sphere Entertainment have announced that Allen Lo has been named EVP, chief legal officer for both companies. With more than 30 years of legal experience, Lo joins the company from Meta where he served as VP, legal and deputy general counsel. Prior to joining Meta, Lo served as deputy general counsel, patents and IP litigation at Google. Before that, he was deputy general counsel and VP, legal affairs at Juniper Networks. Lo started his career at the US Patent and Trademark Office, before joining Finnegan,…

Plus the SEC and TD Bank make changes to their leadership teams Walmart has named Erin Nealy Cox as its next EVP of global governance, chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Cox joins Walmart from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she has served as a partner in the government, regulatory and internal investigations practice group. She previously served as the US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and was also appointed to and chaired the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. Prior to this, Cox was an executive managing director at Stroz Friedberg, a global cybersecurity and risk management firm. ‘To…

Glass Lewis has warned that a wave of state-level legislation targeting proxy advisory firms could reshape the sector and potentially limit the ability of investors to access independent governance advice. In a statement, the firm said that 13 US states are considering measures that could make it significantly more difficult for proxy advisors to operate and provide voting recommendations to institutional investors. Glass Lewis argues that the initiatives are designed to curb that influence by placing new requirements and restrictions on proxy advice. According to the firm, critics of proxy advisors are attempting to bypass federal lawmakers and regulators by…

Plus Choice Hotels, Arcutis Biotherapeutics and Liberty Media grow their legal teams Trustpilot has named Shazadi Stinton as its new chief trust officer, a newly created role at the reviews company. It joins the likes of Salesforce, Airbnb and Docusign by introducing the role, which sits at the intersection of security, data privacy, compliance and ethical AI initiatives. Specifically, Stinton will oversee Trustpilot’s content integrity, fraud prevention and the legal and governance framework. She will work closely with the company’s technology, public affairs and product teams to ensure the company’s integrity standards remain high. Stinton joins from the MONY Group…