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 Motor North America, a subsidiary of NSYE-listed Toyota, has confirmed the retirement of Sandra Phillips from her role as SVP, enterprise integrity, chief legal officer, corporate secretary and chief sustainability officer.
Phillips will exit the company at the end of June, with her role to be split among two of her colleagues. Chris Yang will see his role of SVP, enterprise strategy and solutions expanded to include the responsibilities of chief legal officer and enterprise integrity. Liz Gibson, group vice president and general counsel, will assume the roles of group vice president, regulatory affairs and environmental sustainability, corporate secretary, and chief sustainability officer reporting to Yang.
Meanwhile, Barclays Group has appointed Stephanie Avakian as its new group General Counsel.
Effective as of July 1, Avakian will take over from Stephen Shapiro after nearly a decade with the bank.
Avakian joins Barclays from law firm WilmerHale where she was a partner and chair of the securities and financial services department. Prior to this, she served as director of the SEC’s division of enforcement until December 2020, having joined the SEC in 2014 as deputy director.
‘Stephanie brings exceptional depth of experience across financial services, regulation and complex litigation. Her leadership and global perspective will be a significant asset to Barclays, and I am delighted to welcome her to the bank,’ says C S Venkatakrishnan, group CEO of Barclays.
‘I would like to thank Stephen for his outstanding contribution to Barclays. He has been a trusted adviser to me, the chairman, the board and colleagues across the group, leading with integrity and partnership.’
Elsewhere, Pharmaceutical company Par Health has named Norv McAndrew as its EVP, chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
McAndrew enters the role with 30 years of experience in public and private sectors. He most recently served as chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Cerebral, a mental health telemedicine company.
Before that, McAndrew held senior global legal leadership roles, including SVP and general counsel, global litigation; assistant general counsel, litigation; and chief, global commercial compliance investigations at the likes of Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
Earlier in his career, he served in public service for 12 years as an assistant US attorney and attorney-in-charge for the US Department of Justice and an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
BioStem Technologies, a regenerative medicine company, confirms the appointment of Katherine Gorrell as its new chief legal and compliance officer.
Before joining BioStem Gorrell served as VP and general counsel at Holy Cross Health. Prior to this she was general counsel and compliance officer for AdvancedMD. She has also held in-house roles at Intermountain Healthcare and Providence Health & Services/Swedish Health Services.
Over at NYSE-listed Agilent Technologies, the company has welcomed Michael Buckner as its new chief legal officer.
Buckner enters the role with close to three decades of experience as a senior global legal executive. He most recently served as VP, deputy general counsel and chief M&A counsel at Danaher Corp.
Before this, Buckner spent 16 years at General Electric in various roles, but most recently as VP and chief counsel for M&A. Earlier in his career he held legal roles at Capital One Financial and in private practice, where he focused on corporate and securities law.
Lastly, The Awareness Group, a national provider of solar energy solutions, has appointed Brooks Holcomb as its new chief legal officer.
Holcomb currently serves on TAG’s Board of Directors and is expected to continue in that role while assuming day-to-day leadership of the company’s legal function.
He enters the role with more than 25 years of legal, governance and entrepreneurial experience having begun his career at a prominent national law firm before founding Holcomb Law, a boutique practice established in 2008.
In addition, Holcomb co-founded and served as general counsel for Original ChopShop as well as several hospitality ventures in Scottsdale, Arizona.