Catherine Razzano, chief compliance officer of Panasonic Avionics Corp. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Panasonic Avionics Corp., which remains under an independent monitor as part of an April bribery settlement with federal prosecutors, has appointed Catherine Razzano as vice president and chief compliance officer.

“This is a very exciting time to be joining Panasonic,” Razzano said in a statement, “and I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to ensure the company's policies are robust in today's business environment.” The company supplies in-flight entertainment and communication systems.

Razzano joins Panasonic from General Dynamics Corp. where she held the position of assistant general counsel and director since 2010. She was not immediately available for comment Monday.

Prior to that, Razzano was a senior attorney at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft for nearly seven years, and an associate at Clifford Chance for less than a year. She is joining a company that has revamped its management and its legal department.

Razzano will report directly to the general counsel of Panasonic Corp. North America, who, until recently was Damien Atkins. On Monday, Atkins began his new job as general counsel at The Hershey Co. in Pennsylvania.

Both Panasonic Avionics in Lake Forest, California, and Panasonic North America near Washington, D.C., are subsidiaries of the Japanese parent company, Panasonic Corp. The North American unit was not involved in the federal settlements.

Panasonic promised compliance reforms plus a new CEO, COO and CFO in February 2017. In April 2018 the company ended a lengthy U.S. probe into its use of third-party agents in China and other parts of Asia under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Razzano will have a dotted line reporting structure to Panasonic Avionics' new CEO, Hideo Nakano.

On April 30,  the parent company settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while the Avionics unit signed a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The company agreed to pay $280 million in civil and criminal penalties, and to hire an independent monitor to oversee its compliance efforts.

Razzano replaces Rob Lindquist, who retired as Avionics' chief compliance officer in June, after the settlement was completed. Lindquist joined the company during the federal probe in 2015 to rebuild the compliance program. The misconduct under investigation occurred before his tenure, between 2007 and 2013.

Avionics former general counsel, Doug Martin, left in May 2017 after eight years with the company.

This story has been corrected to reflect the fact that in February 2017, Panasonic did not promise a new chief compliance officer.