Leon Roday is joining the Randor, Pennsylvania-headquartered Lincoln Financial Group as executive vice president and general counsel, effective Friday.

Roday joins Lincoln Financial from Genworth Financial Inc., where he had served as GC and corporate secretary since the company's $2.83 billion initial public offering in 2004, according to a 2013 report by Corporate Counsel affiliate The American Lawyer. At Lincoln Financial, Roday succeeds Kirkland Hicks, who resigned to take a midcareer break to travel abroad, a Lincoln Financial spokeswoman said in an email.

Roday could not immediately be reached for comment. In his new role, he will oversee Lincoln Financial's legal, compliance, government relations and corporate secretary functions, as well as provide strategic counsel to the CEO, senior management team and board of directors, according to a statement announcing his hire. He also will sit on the company's senior management committee, it added.

Before joining Genworth, Roday was a top in-house lawyer at GE Financial Assurance Holdings Inc. and prior to that a partner at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, where he specialized in insurance, litigation and corporate transactions.

A graduate of Brooklyn Law School, Roday began his legal career as an intern at both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Attorney's Office, according to the statement announcing his fire.

“Leon is a well-known, highly regarded and accomplished legal professional possessing deep expertise as a corporate general counsel in our industry, as well as an extensive background in litigation, compliance, regulatory risk, securities and M&A,” Lincoln Financial president and CEO Dennis Glass said in the statement. “He is also a strategic leader who I know will make a significant contribution to our legal team and Lincoln. I could not be more pleased he has decided to join the company.”