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    Starbucks orders up a new legal chief as Brad Lerman set to leave

    Current CLO is due to depart ‘in the coming months’, according to an SEC filing Our more eagle-eyed readers may have seen that the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee met again earlier this week, meeting for a series of discussion panels tackling several key issues facing the capital markets. Nestled among them was a panel addressing non-GAAP financial disclosures and another that examined the issue of pass-through voting and engagement with beneficial owners. The practice of pass-through voting refers to the process of investors having more of a say in how asset managers vote on the proxies of the companies that…

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    Centrus Energy’s general counsel Shahram Ghasemian departs in management shake-up

    Richard Emery steps in as acting general counsel as firm searches for replacement Shahram Ghasemian has stepped down from his position as senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary at Centrus Energy as part of a leadership shake-up. Following his departure, Richard Emery, who currently serves as the firm’s deputy general counsel and director of corporate compliance, will become acting general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary as the company finds a successor. Ghasemian will resign from his role on June 29 to pursue another opportunity, the NYSE-listed company says in an SEC filing. There…

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    Cross-party politics: new role for former Trump official at Microsoft as firm also hires Biden-era lawyer

    CJ Mahoney and Lisa Monaco named to new roles at computer giant When’s the best time to start thinking about next year’s proxy season? If you ask the best-prepared corporate secretaries, that planning process starts as early as the end of the previous year’s, particularly if you have to rethink your process in any form. As the fulcrum of any company’s communication with shareholders and wider stakeholders, the proxy statement has evolved to become more than just a regulatory fulfilment: many of 2025’s proxy statements conveyed much more about a given organization’s purpose, message and strategy. And, as 2025’s proxy…

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    James Pelletier takes up general counsel post at JBT Marel

    Former Kymera and Masonite lawyer to join at the end of June Former Kymera and Masonite legal counsel James Pelletier has taken up a new position at JBT Marel. Pelletier will join the NYSE and Nasdaq Iceland-listed technology company, which provides solutions and services to the food and beverage industry, on June 30. He has ‘more than two decades of legal and business leadership experience,’ a press release from JBT Marel states, noting that Pelletier most recently served as general counsel and chief compliance officer at specialty metals and coatings maker Kymera. Prior to that, Pelletier held roles including senior…

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    Scholastic promotes Chris Lick to the top of the class

    Former senior vice president and deputy general counsel to succeed Andrew Hedden Children’s publishing and media company Scholastic has promoted Chris Lick, formerly senior vice president and deputy general counsel, to take over as its new executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Lick replaces Andrew Hedden, who previously served as general counsel for 17 years and recently announced his retirement. Hedden will hold the role of senior counselor in the interim. In his new position, Lick will provide strategic legal counsel for the Nasdaq-listed firm and its board of directors both in the US and abroad. This includes…

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    Frankenmuth Insurance brings in State Farm lawyer as chief legal officer

    Kelly Ott brings more than 30 years of experience to the role Frankenmuth Insurance has brought in a former State Farm lawyer as its new chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Kelly Ott has joined the Frankenmuth, Michigan-based firm effective from April 28, and will serve as its top legal advisory, overseeing corporate legal matters, governance and regulatory compliance across the company and its subsidiaries. She will also serve as Frankenmuth’s corporate secretary, overseeing board procedures and supporting various executive committees. Ott brings more than 30 years of experience in private practice and in-house legal leadership, according to a press…

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    Adobe appoints former Disney and Roku lawyer Pentland as CLO

    Software giant names replacement for departed general counsel Dana Rao What does DEI mean to you? Here at IR Impact, we’ve stopped spelling out diversity, equity and inclusion, working under the assumption that this most tricky of news items is known to all. But it seems that other interpretations exist – on the White House official X account for example, where a post was recently put out stating ‘the only DEI we support is Deport Every Illegal’. That very much sums up the kind of narrative companies are up against with today’s very public broadly anti-ESG and specifically anti-DEI rhetoric.…

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    Aptly named Mark Hacker joins AI and cloud tech firm Lumen

    New executive vice president and CLO joins from Motorola Solutions Luisiana-headquartered Lumen, an AI and cloud technology company involved in everything from metro connectivity to cloud services, has named Mark Hacker as its new executive vice president and chief legal officer, effective immediately. Hacker joins Lumen from Motorola Solutions where he served as general counsel and chief administrative officer a role that saw him lead ‘high-stakes litigation to protect the company’s intellectual property, build a trusted government affairs presence in Washington, DC, and help drive shareholder value during a period of significant change and growth’, according to a statement from…

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    New chief legal officer joins Aura

    The company also appointed a new chief people officer Aura has named William Lundregan as its new chief legal officer, alongside appointing Jeff Belanger as the new chief people officer. Lundregan joins Aura from Finalsite, a SaaS provider in education, where he was general counsel and chief legal officer. He takes over the role from Damien Atkins, who departed in October. Aura founder and chief executive Hari Ravichandran says in a press release: ‘Bill’s track record in managing large, complex transactions and navigating global regulatory matters, combined with Jeff’s proven ability to scale high-performing teams and organizational effectiveness, will be…

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    Bristol Myers Squibb appoints new general counsel

    Sandy Leung is retiring from the position after 33 years Daniel J Eastman has been named as the new general counsel of Mike Lindell Media Corporation (MLMC). Mike Lindell is more commonly known as the ‘My Pillow Guy’ and as an avid supporter of Donald Trump. He reportedly helped to finance Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US election. Lindell unsuccessfully ran for chair of the republican national committee in 2023 and was banned from X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2021 for spreading election misinformation. MLMC, which is listed on the OTC Markets exchange, is a…

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