Comfort Systems USA Inc., a Houston-based building maintenance company, has announced that its current general counsel will be moving to a regional operations role and that the company's associate general counsel will be taking over as its top lawyer beginning in January.

The announcement was made in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in a news release Wednesday.

Laura F. Howell will be replacing Trent McKenna as the senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. McKenna is stepping down from his role to take on a regional operations role within the company, according to a news release. McKenna joined Comfort Systems in 2004 as associate general counsel and in 2005 was named senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“I want to thank Trent for his leadership and many contributions as Comfort Systems USA's general counsel for over 13 years. This has been a planned transition with Trent's desire to serve in an operating role for the company. I am confident that he will be successful in this new role,” Brian Lane, president and CEO of Comfort Systems USA, said in the release.

A phone call to the company for further comment was not immediately returned Thursday.

Howell was hired by Comfort Systems USA in 2014 and began working as senior corporate counsel, according to her LinkedIn profile. In January 2018, she was made associate general counsel. Before joining the HVAC company's legal team she worked as a corporate associate at Fenwick & West from 2012 to 2013 and as a corporate associate at Latham & Watkins from 2013 to 2014.

Comfort Systems USA is a building maintenance company that provides commercial HVAC and mechanical and electrical contracting to companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, according to its website.