AbbVie Promotes GC to Vice Chairwoman, CLO in Executive Restructuring
Pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. has announced that general counsel Laura Schumacher was promoted to the role of vice chairwoman, external affairs and chief legal officer.
December 19, 2018 at 03:32 PM
3 minute read
Laura J. Schumacher, vice chairwomman, external affairs and chief legal officer with AbbVie. Courtesy photo.
North Chicago, Illinois-based pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. has announced that general counsel Laura Schumacher was promoted to the role of vice chairwoman, external affairs and chief legal officer and is one of four executives who will report directly to Chairman and CEO Richard A. Gonzalez.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, her promotion was effective on Dec. 13. She will be responsible in her new role for legal, ethics and compliance, corporate governance, corporate aviation and all externally facing functions, including health economics outcomes research, government affairs, corporate responsibility, brand and communications, a news release on Monday stated.
She is the company's first chief legal officer, a company representative said.
Schumacher has been with AbbVie since 2013, when she was hired as executive vice president of external affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary. She previously worked in the legal department of Abbott Laboratories since 1990, according to her LinkedIn profile. She joined AbbVie when it spun off from Abbott in 2013. In 2017, Schumacher was one of the top 10 highest-paid women in-house leaders. According to a previous report on Law.com, she earned more than $2.6 million in 2017. But Bloomberg research placed her total calculated compensation at a much higher figure.
Schumacher's promotion was announced on the same day that Gonzalez announced a restructuring of the company's executives. Now, four executives report directly to Gonzalez. They include Schumacher; William Chase, executive vice president of finance and administration; Carlos Alban, vice chairman, chief commercial officer; and Michael Severino, M.D., vice chairman and president.
“AbbVie has grown significantly since our founding six years ago, and now is the right time to evolve our senior executive leadership structure to match our talent and our operating model as well as support our long-term growth strategy,” Gonzalez said in the news release announcing the promotions.
“We are fortunate to have a deep pool of senior leadership talent, and this streamlined structure will enhance our ability to execute against our long-term strategies, provide additional scope for our senior leaders and facilitate our ability to meet our commitment to continuing to deliver value to all of our stakeholders, including patients, employees, shareholders and the communities we serve.”
Read more:
Abbott and AbbVie 'Low Testosterone' Cases Come to an End Via Settlement
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