Archive
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Discover recruits new CLO
Hope Mehlman to join the company from Bank of the West Discover Financial Services has named Hope Mehlman as chief legal officer (CLO) and general counsel, effective January 9. Mehlman will join Discover from Bank of the West, where she has been executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. San Francisco-based Bank of the West is a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas and Mehlman has also been corporate secretary at BNP Paribas USA.She joined Bank of the West in September 2020 having previously been executive vice president, corporate secretary, chief governance officer and deputy general counsel at Regions…
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Geopolitical and economic risks: Board oversight in an evolving world
Corporate Secretary’s ‘Geopolitical and economic risks: Board oversight in an evolving world’ presents the findings from exclusive research that offer useful insights into, among other things, which elements of the board oversee those risks and how often they discuss them, what issues are on board agendas, what investors are asking about and how governance professionals view their board’s handling of these matters. The findings in this report are based on an online survey conducted between August and September 2022. Click here to download the report >> Key findings Overall, almost three quarters of respondents report a slight (53 percent) or…
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Crypto firm Dinara hires general counsel and compliance head
Firm provides services including digital asset custody and fiat-crypto and crypto-crypto conversions Start-up crypto company Dinara has hired Yanire Martes as general counsel and Victor Guerra as head of compliance. In their new roles, Guerra reports to Martes and Martes reports to Dinara CEO and co-founder Laurence Latimer. Martes was previously head of legal for the Americas at OANDA Corporation. In that role she was in charge of legal and regulatory matters for the US launch of crypto-currencies and other crypto product and trading offerings. Earlier in her career, Martes was an Axiom Law attorney at Morgan Stanley, working with…
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Grainger to bring on board new legal chief
Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz is joining from Eaton Corporation Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz is joining WW Grainger as senior vice president and chief legal officer (CLO), effective January 30. Berardinelli-Krantz will move to Grainger from Eaton Corporation, where she is senior vice president and deputy CLO. Earlier in her career she held senior leadership positions at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and worked at law firm of Jones Day. Berardinelli-Krantz is also a veteran of the US Army as a member of the judge advocate general’s corps. During her service she was a trial attorney in Fort Hood, Texas, and for the contract…
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Tough M&A climate brings focus on compliance and creativity, lawyers say
‘There are great M&A opportunities out there and boards know that’ Lawyers say it’s important to be creative and keep a close eye on compliance issues to get M&A deals done in a difficult economic climate. They expect the challenging market conditions experienced in 2022 to continue into 2023 and say deal teams need to do extensive due diligence to ensure transactions achieve their required aims. Data from S&P shows deal numbers plummeted in 2022, although this trend could be reversed in 2023 as distressed assets hit the market. Lawrence Mendes, partner with law firm Baker & McKenzie,says given the…
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More companies linking executive pay to stakeholder measures, survey finds
US issuers still lag peers in other regions More than three quarters (78 percent) of large companies now include stakeholder-based metrics in their executive compensation plans, according to a global survey from Farient Advisors. That figure is an increase from 73 percent in 2021 and 64 percent in 2020. Marked regional differences persist, however. Almost nine in 10 companies surveyed in continental Europe this year (88 percent) used stakeholder incentive measures, compared with 63 percent of those in the US and 62 percent of those in Canada. The research incorporates large companies in Australia, Canada, continental Europe, Singapore, South Africa,…
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Women general counsel progress on Canadian boards, study shows
Twice as many female general counsel as male, according to research from Blake Cassels & Graydon. Sarah Welsh speaks to Kate McGilvray, partner at Blakes, to find out more What is the overall purpose of the report? We launched the Blakes board report in 2016 at our fifth annual Women [General Counsel] on Boards program, held in partnership with Women General Counsel Canada and Women Get On Board. The report looks at the involvement of female general counsel and lawyers on the boards of Canadian publicly listed companies that comprise the S&P/TSX Composite Index, to benchmark the landscape for women…
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Companies lagging on useful climate disclosures, report says
Shortfalls despite more companies producing climate-related reporting Less than half of companies produce climate-related disclosures that include decision-useful information, according to a Manifest Climate report. The firm collected data from public filings of more than 3,000 companies in 65 countries and looked at how closely those aligns with the TCFD’s recommendations. The report finds that despite more companies producing climate-related disclosures, most are yet to include decision-useful information. Just under two thirds (66 percent) of surveyed companies disclosed some TCFD-aligned information. The finds are similar to those in a recent status report published by the TCFD, which found that the…
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Activists targeting operational changes and divestments, study finds
More activist campaigns during Q3 of 2022 compared to previous year, according to report Operational changes and divestments were two areas of focus for activist investors in the third quarter of 2022 and these themes are likely continue in 2023, according to new research. FTI Consulting’s Quarterly Activism Vulnerability report, based on its 2022 third quarter Activist Vulnerability Screen, found there were substantially more activist campaigns during the period compared to the previous year. Its data shows there were 119 campaigns in the third quarter against US and Canadian companies, versus 87 activist campaigns in the third quarter of 2021.…
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Organon appoints general counsel and secretary
Kirke Weaver has been in the roles on an interim basis NYSE-listed Organon has appointed Kirke Weaver as general counsel and corporate secretary, effective January 1. Weaver was named interim head of the office of general counsel and corporate secretary in July 2022.Deborah Telman had been Organon’s general counsel before moving to Gilead Sciences in August as executive vice president for corporate affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary, succeeding Brett Pletcher, who retired from Gilead after 17 years with the company. Before taking on the general counsel and corporate secretary roles on an interim basis, Weaver was senior vice president…