Honeywell logo. Photo credit: testing/Shutterstock.com

Honeywell International Inc. wants to see if Anne Madden can turn her deal making magic into an equal amount of success as its new general counsel. Madden becomes senior vice president, GC and a company officer on October 25, according to Honeywell.

She replaces Katherine Adams, who on Friday was tapped to become the new general counsel of Apple Inc. when Bruce Sewell retires at the end of the year.

Madden served as vice president of corporate development and global head of mergers and acquisitions at Honeywell starting in 2002. Her deal making history at the company has included some 100 acquisitions representing $15 billion in sales, and 70 divestitures worth $8.5 billion in sales, the company said.

Madden, who will report to President and CEO Darius Adamczyk, was not immediately available for comment. But Adamczyk said in a statement, “Anne has strong business acumen and deep legal expertise, and she is a welcome addition to Honeywell's leadership team.”

He said she has a proven track record of facilitating transactions and supporting Honeywell's global growth.

“Anne has also been instrumental in developing and executing our disciplined integration process that has driven the high payback we have achieved with the vast majority of our deals,” Adamczyk added. “Our successful M&A strategy and the returns we have generated have differentiated Honeywell from its peers.”

In 2015, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Honeywell was among a select group of companies “drawing cheers from investors” for highly successful acquisitions and diversified lineups.

Still, Honeywell was moving cautiously ahead, the Journal wrote, quoting Madden: “'All those sleepless nights to earn the right to play will all come crashing down if you do a bad deal.'”

Madden will bring her strong business background to the general counsel role at the software-industrial company, based in Morris Plains, New Jersey. Besides her law degree, she has a masters degree in accounting as well as an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.

She spent five years in private practice at Shearman & Sterling focusing on corporate finance and M&A, until she joined Honeywell in 1996 as vice president and general counsel of its Specialty Materials Co.

She will need all those skills to manage Honeywell's busy legal department, which has over 120 lawyers. Environmental and asbestos lawsuits “represent our most significant [financial] contingencies,” according to the company's most recent quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Honeywell currently faces an array of legal matters including:

• A suit filed Aug. 17 by Natasha Chandler, a former vice president who said she was hired to increase diversity at the executive level but contends she was hired as window dressing. She sued for fraud, breach of contract and discrimination.
• A consolidated lawsuit over groundwater contamination from chemicals used in manufacturing in the village of Hoosick Falls, New York. In August, Honeywell's federal court motion to dismiss was granted in part, but plaintiffs' claims for negligence and liability survived.
• An antitrust suit filed in February by Honeywell in an effort to block a merger of two competitors in the smart home technology business. At issue is control of the market for software platforms that allow remote operation of home devices, such as lights or thermostats, by smartphone or a computer.