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Plus Warner Bros Discovery, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank grow their respective teams Unilever, the global consumer goods company, has made three senior appointments to the legal teams of its soon-to-be separated ice cream business. In a move announced in 2024, Unilever will spin off its ice cream business into a standalone company called The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which has a public listing planned forQ4 2025. Under the restructuring Vanessa Vilar has been appointed chief legal officer for The Magnum Ice Cream Company. Before the promotion she served as group general counsel, ice cream at Unilever. Meanwhile, Natalia Cavaliere…

Plus Pentair, Air Products and Synopsys all strengthen their governance teams We are witnessing a quiet but seismic shift in corporate governance. Behind the headlines of stock prices and board reshuffles, a powerful trio of asset management giants – BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) – has quietly become the most influential force in the corporate world. Known collectively as the‘Big Three’, these firms are now shaping the strategies, structures and leadership of companies across the globe, all too often in ways that are invisible to the public and even to the businesses they influence. This isn’t just…

Plus Fiera Capital, Cingulate and Aluminium Bahrain bolster their governance teams Alumis, a late-stage biopharma company, has promoted Sanam Pangali to chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Prior to her promotion Pangali served as senior vice president of legal for the Nasdaq-listed company and succeeds Sara Klein, who has retired. In Pangali’s new role, she will oversee all legal and compliance functions including corporate governance, intellectual property, and strategic advisory on key decisions and transactions. Before joining Alumis Pangali held various leadership roles at the likes of ACELYRIN, Snapdocs, Principia Biopharma and Morrison & Foerster, the company says in a…

As closing date looms for 2025 entries, we catch up with two of the big winners from the 17th annual Corporate Governance Awards Against the backdrop of the New York city skyline, the 17th annual Corporate Governance Awards bestowed 22 trophies on some of the industry’s key players back in 2024. Commemorated themes included annual general meetings, compliance and ethics programs, ESG reporting, entity management, use of technology, proxy statements, investor engagement and corporate transactions. The top individual prizes of the night, celebrating personal excellence in the world of GRC, went to Christina Lai of Robinhood Markets for governance professional…

Plus, Valley National Bancorp, ONE Gas and Deutsche Bank expand their governance teams Genelux Corporation, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, has appointed Eric Groen as the company’s new general counsel, corporate secretary, chief compliance officer and head of business development. Groen enters the role having previously served as general counsel of Rani Therapeutics, a clinical-stage, publicly traded biotech. Prior to this he spent 20 years in the legal department at the biotech company Amgen. ‘Eric brings a powerful blend of legal expertise, global business development savvy and a strategic understanding of the biotechnology ecosystem,’ says Thomas Zindrick, president, CEO and chairman…

Plus, Allegion, ConnectOne Bancorp and Fifth Third Bancorp all bolster their corporate governance teams US US nuclear power provider NuScale Power has confirmed the appointment of Shahram Ghasemian as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Ghasemian joins NuScale from Centrus Energy where he served as senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary. Before this Ghasemian held several leadership positions within the federal government including the US Department of Energy, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and served as a senior legislative fellow on nuclear policy issues on Capitol Hill. Elsewhere Allegion, a global security and access company,…

New hire previously served as chief legal officer of QBE North America American insurance company MAPFRE USA, a subsidiary of Spanish multinational MAPFRE Group, has appointed Mark Pasko as the company’s new executive vice president, general counsel and company secretary. Effective as of July 21, Pasko will oversee MAPFRE’s legal, regulatory and government affairs in the US, as well as compliance, state filings and corporate governance matters. Pasko enters the role with over 20 years of experience in the corporate counsel, insurance and managementspace. Before joining MAPFRE he served as chief legal officer of QBE North America, a global insurance…

Former general counsel at Sage Therapeutics joins the biopharmaceuticals firm New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical company Phathom Pharmaceuticals has named Anne Marie Cook as its new chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Cook takes up the role having previously served as SVP, general counsel of Sage Therapeutics from 2015 to 2024. During her tenure, Cookled all legal activities across the business, including commercialization, regulatory, compliance, intellectual property and corporate governance. ‘I’m delighted to welcome Anne Marie Cook to Phathom, she will play a key role in shaping our corporate strategy,’ says Steven Basta, president and CEO at Phathom Pharmaceuticals. ‘Her experience and…

Outgoing corporate secretary will stay on as strategic advisor Another week, another SEC update. This time, the regulator has confirmed that it will take a deep look at executive compensation disclosure requirements, starting with a roundtable later this month. The SEC, never one to let a disclosure rule gather dust, has decided it’s time to revisit the question of how – and how much – companies tell us about what they pay the people in charge. On June 26, the agency will gather an assortment of company reps, compensation advisers, lawyers and investors at its Washington HQ for a roundtable…

She will succeed current general counsel Kevin Reid, who is retiring Dubai-based telecoms company Veon has appointed Vitaly Shmakov as its acting general counsel, replacing the outgoing Omiyinka Doris. The firm, which is listed on the Nasdaq and was formerly traded on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, said that Doris had chosen to step aside from her role as of July 1, but would continue as a strategic advisor to the group’s CEO. She joined Veon in 2015 and has served in various legal and capital markets roles. Doris ‘played a pivotal role in steering Veon to sustained success’ at a…