Major companies from newly public Beyond Meat to scandal-ridden Boeing filled and created in-house positions in May as more general counsel assumed the CEO role.

Within the first day of the month, Nestlé, Boeing and Jo-Ann Stores announced new general counsel. The Boeing Japan general counsel in Tokyo transitioned to the main company in Chicago as the aircraft maker still battles backlash on its handling of two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia involving its 737 MAX 8 planes. The former Boeing general counsel assumed a new role at the company as counselor and senior adviser to the CEO, showing how in-house counsel tend to be appointed to other C-suite nonlawyer positions.

The general counsel of engineering firm Fluor and Electronic Software Association took the helm as CEO. At Fluor, the general counsel is in an interim CEO role while the video game trade group's general counsel already served in an interim capacity and became permanent CEO. General counsel becoming interim CEOs surfaced in March with the announcement of Wells Fargo general counsel C. Allen Parker filling in as interim CEO as the bank still recovers from its legal, regulatory and compliance trouble with federal agencies stemming from employees opening millions of unauthorized accounts for customers. Parker started an in-house regulatory and compliance group in May.

By mid-month, Beyond Meat, the plant-based foods company fresh off its initial public offering, hired its first general counsel. Though Silicon Valley titans Uber, Lyft and Pinterest also filed for their IPOs around the same time, Beyond Meat with a base in El Segundo, California, is considered one of the most successful IPOs of the year thus far, according to Nasdaq, which also predicts competitors will soon launch their own offerings.

Walmart enhanced its legal department with the creation of a general counsel for health and wellness position and filled it with a former chief compliance officer of dialysis clinic chain DaVita. The retail corporation also hired an international chief ethics and compliance officer.

Longtime Caesars Entertainment general counsel Timothy Donovan left his post a month after the CEO was terminated. Donovan would've received a $900,000 “retention award” in January 2020 if he had stayed during the transition of the new CEO. He plans to stay on as a consultant for one year with a salary of $500,000.

Overall, the health sector appeared strong with filling general counsel positions in May as evidenced below along with other general counsel moves across several industries. Major health in-house moves include clear orthodontia maker Align Technology changing hands with the general counsel retiring and the associate general counsel stepping up to the top role and health care cloud company ClearDATA naming a former Shutterfly lawyer as its first chief legal officer.

Energy

CMS Energy and Consumers Energy has promoted Shaun Johnson to senior vice president and general counsel from vice president and deputy general counsel, the companies said in a statement.

Johnson replaces Catherine Reynolds, the company's first female senior vice president who will retire after 40 years with the companies. Kelly Hall, supervisory assistant general counsel, replaces Johnson as vice president and deputy general counsel.

Consumers Energy is Michigan's largest energy provider for 6.7 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

Gulfport Energy Corp. in Oklahoma City has named Patrick K. Craine as general counsel and corporate secretary.

Craine joins Gulfport from Chesapeake Energy Corp. where he served as deputy general counsel and chief risk and compliance officer, according to the company's announcement. Prior to Chesapeake, Craine was a partner with Bracewell, where his practice focused on securities and corporate regulatory matters and investigations. Before Craine entered private practice, he served as a lawyer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, where he held leadership positions in their Oil and Gas Task Forces.

“I am excited to join David,” said Craine of Gulfport CEO and president David M. Wood in the announcement. “His vision for the company will set the course for growth and success over the coming years. Together with my new colleagues at Gulfport, I look forward to delivering on that vision and building lasting shareholder value.”

Orano USA, a Washington, D.C.-based global nuclear fuel cycle company, has appointed Michael Woods to general counsel, the company told Corporate Counsel.

Prior to Orano, Woods served as general counsel for Sol Systems, a solar energy finance and development firm also based in Washington, D.C. He also worked as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Entertainment

StereoVision Entertainment Inc. has appointed Arnold F. Sock to general counsel.

According to the Las Vegas-based multimedia content production company, Sock has extensive senior level experience and has taken two companies public as their CEO.

Finance

New York-based banking mobile application company Qapital has hired Jonathan Perkel as general counsel.

Perkel joins Qapital from Fareportal, the air travel company behind the website CheapOair, where he built the legal department since 2014 as senior vice president and general counsel. Prior to Fareportal, Perkel held the same position at Travelocity. He was also the first in-house counsel for travel technology and content startup Site59. Before his in-house positions, Perkel worked at Morrison & Foerster and Cadwalader.

Health

The Permanente Federation in Oakland, California, announced Katherine Robinson Saral will be its chief legal officer in a press release. The Permanente Federation is the national leadership and consulting organization for the eight Permanente Medical Groups, which with Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Hospitals comprise Kaiser Permanente.

Saral will transition from her current role as senior counsel with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Hospitals legal department to join the federation's legal department overseeing legal and compliance portfolios for The Permanente Federation LLC, Permanente Advantage and The Permanente Foundation.

She succeeds Pauline Fox, who will retire in July following a career spanning more than 20 years in two separate terms with the federation.

Saral joined Kaiser Permanente in 2012. Before Kaiser Permanente, Saral worked with Ropes & Gray in San Francisco.

Clint Cromwell.

Spero Health, a health care organization specializing in outpatient care for individuals suffering from substance use disorders, added Clint Cromwell as chief legal officer to its leadership team.

Cromwell most recently was enterprise mergers and acquisitions counsel for Envision Healthcare. He also served as general counsel for the ambulatory surgery division of AmSurg, a network of ambulatory surgery centers.

“I look forward to working with the leadership team to make a positive and meaningful impact on our patients and the lives of those who live in the communities we serve,” Cromwell said in the company's statement.

Dr. Christine Bellon has joined Beam Therapeutics as senior vice president and chief legal officer.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines says Bellon comes from Forma Therapeutics, where she was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Prior to Forma, Bellon was senior vice president of legal affairs for Relay Therapeutics and vice president of legal affairs and corporate secretary at Blueprint Medicines. She has served in legal leadership roles at Hydra Biosciences and Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Along with a law degree from Columbia University, Bellon holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

BioTime Inc., an Alameda, California-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for unmet medical needs, announced it has appointed Chase C. Leavitt as general counsel and corporate secretary.

Prior to BioTime, Leavitt served as vice president of legal affairs of Tang Capital Management LLC, a life sciences-focused investment company, and its pharmaceutical company affiliate Odonate Therapeutics Inc., according to the press release. Leavitt also was the associate general counsel then the deputy general counsel of Switch Inc., a data technology company. For private practice, he worked on corporate transactions at Latham & Watkins.

Kara Ricci.

Oakland, California-based Brown & Toland Physicians has named Kara Ricci as chief legal officer and general counsel.

Before Brown & Toland, Ricci served as senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at NORCAL Mutual Insurance Co. in San Francisco.

“Brown & Toland is a company to admire with its rich history of innovation and respected network of independent physicians in the Bay Area,” Ricci said in Brown & Toland's press release. “I believe the opportunities for Brown & Toland have never been greater, and I look forward to joining a company to do my part in helping to fulfill its vision and making a genuine difference for patients and physicians.”

Black Diamond Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing precision medicines for cancer, announced Brent Hatzis-Schoch will be its chief operating officer and general counsel.

Hatzis-Schoch joins Black Diamond from Radius Health Inc., where he was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Previously, he served as senior vice president and chief legal counsel at Merz Pharma in Frankfurt, Germany.

“Black Diamond's pipeline and powerful MAP [mutation, allostery, and pharmacology] platform hold great promise to revolutionize how we treat cancers by identifying and drugging new allosteric mutant disease targets,” Hatzis-Schoch said in the company statement. “I am privileged to be joining the company at such an exciting time and look forward to working with this impressive team to discover and develop transformative therapies that have the potential to help cancer patients and the physicians who treat them.”

Maintenance

Tampa, Florida-based Diversified Maintenance, a facility maintenance company, has named Marc Greenberg as general counsel.

Greenberg most recently was the associate general counsel at Welbilt, a culinary industry equipment and solutions maker.

“I am excited to be part of such a fantastic team,” Greenberg said in the company's announcement. “I look forward to working with the corporate and field teams and believe that my legal experience and sound counsel will support the company's growth.”

Manufacturing

TopBuild, an installer and distributor of insulation and building material products in Daytona Beach, Florida, has hired Donald Walther as general counsel and corporate secretary, the company announced in a press release.

Prior to TopBuild, Walther served as executive vice president and general counsel for Esterline Corp., a worldwide supplier to the aerospace and defense industry. Previously, he held the same title at The Heico Companies, a parent holding company for a diverse portfolio of manufacturing, construction and industrial services businesses. A former Perkins Coie partner, Walther has also served as deputy general counsel for ITT Corp. and counsel for The Boeing Co.

Media

Jonathan Mirsky has been named executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at MDC Partners, a marketing and communications network. He will be based in Washington, D.C., with a start date of June 17, according to company's statement.

Mirsky, a partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis in Washington, D.C., will replace general counsel Mitch Gendel, who will remain with the company during the transition period. Mirsky also previously worked as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Covington & Burling.

“MDC Partners is a best-in-class organization, uniquely positioned to grow and thrive now and in the coming years,” Mirsky said in the statement. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to that success, and to apply my experience to MDC as we lead through a time of industry evolution.”

Municipal

The board of Platte River Power Authority, a nonprofit wholesale electricity generation and transmission provider that serves four communities around Fort Collins, Colorado, announced Sarah Dennison-Leonard will succeed Joe Wilson as the organization's next general counsel.

Wilson will retire after serving as Platte River's general counsel since 2007. Dennison-Leonard will start her new role Aug. 5 while Craig Johnson, senior deputy general counsel, will serve as interim general counsel through the transition.

Dennison-Leonard is a partner at Marten Law in Portland, Oregon, specializing in complex commercial and regulatory transactions in the energy industry. Since 1999, she has served as outside general counsel and corporate secretary for the Northwest Power Pool Corp.

The NC Chamber, the leading business advocacy organization in North Carolina, has appointed Ray Starling to general counsel and president of the NC Chamber Legal Institute. The chamber, which is located in Raleigh, said Starling will fill the newly created position of general counsel.

Starling is currently serving as chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, where he coordinates the secretary's policy agenda for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I am excited to join the NC Chamber team. My roots are in the fertile, and sometimes not so fertile, fields of Eastern North Carolina, so it is great to be home. As our state continues to grow, it is more important now than ever to protect our economic gains. I am pleased to be part of that effort with the NC Chamber and its Legal Institute,” Starling said in the chamber's press release. “Additionally, I look forward to continuing to build strong relationships with our state's agriculture community. One of North Carolina's greatest economic engines, agriculture has been subject to upticks in labor and production costs, attacks from out-of-state personal injury attorneys, and the destruction and losses brought on by recent storms. Now is the time for collaboration to ensure that North Carolina's agriculture and agribusiness industry remains a leader.”

Also as president of the NC Chamber Legal Institute, Starling will assist the almost 4-year-old institute in providing a vehicle to protect policy and legislative wins the chamber supports in the state and federal courts. Gary Salamido previously held the position and is now the chamber's chief operating officer.

Prior to the USDA, Starling served as the principal agriculture adviser to the White House. Previously he was chief of staff and chief counsel for U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and served as general counsel when Tillis was speaker of the House in the North Carolina Legislature. He also worked as general counsel for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Technology

Irving, Texas-based Exela Technologies Inc. has named Jeffrey Gershowitz to general counsel, according to a press release from the location-agnostic global business process automation company.

Prior to Exela, Gershowitz served as deputy general counsel for Edgewell Personal Care Co. While at Edgewell, he oversaw the company's separation from Energizer Holdings Inc. that resulted Edgewell becoming a stand-alone public company. Gershowitz also held senior legal roles with Terex Corp, a lifting and material processing products manufacturer.

Gentherm, a developer of innovative thermal management technologies, announced Wayne Kauffman has been promoted to vice president and general counsel. He will start July 1, according to the announcement.

For the past five years, Kauffman has led Gentherm's intellectual property policy and development. Before joining the Northville, Michigan-based company, he supported the intellectual property development divisions at Robert Bosch LLC. Kauffman began his legal career at Harness, Dickey & Pierce, where he primarily assisted clients in securing patent rights.

Procore Technologies Inc., a construction management software provider, has appointed Benjamin Singer as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. The Carpinteria, California-based company said this is a new role in its announcement.

Prior to Procore, Singer spent nearly five years as general counsel and corporate secretary of meal prep startup Blue Apron Holdings Inc. During his tenure, Singer helped scale the company to over 5,500 employees with a net revenue of more than $880 million while leading the company through its initial public offering in 2017, according to the announcement. Prior to Blue Apron, he served as vice president, associate general counsel and assistant secretary at Gilt Groupe Inc., an e-commerce lifestyle brand.

“During my career, I have had the privilege of playing a role in scaling several hyper-growth technology companies. With its suite of unparalleled construction management products, remarkable growth across all industry segments, and acclaimed company culture, I believe Procore is uniquely positioned to provide long-term market leadership and have a widely disruptive impact on the industry,” Singer said in Procore's announcement. “I'm excited to join Procore as the company embarks upon its next chapter, and I look forward to building upon the strong foundation Procore has established and supporting the company's continued growth and expansion.”

Trade Associations

American Pet Products Association has promoted Julia Fidenzio to general counsel and vice president of government affairs.

Fidenzio, now in her 14th year with the Stamford, Connecticut-based nonprofit, succeeds Ed Rod, who is retiring after more than 13 years, according to the association's press release. Most recently, Fidenzio served as senior counsel and director of industry relations at the association.

Richard Juliano. 

Richard A. Juliano has been named general counsel of the Washington, D.C.-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

Juliano, who joined ARTBA in 2002 as director of special projects, has served in several roles over the past 17 years, most recently as senior vice president for policy. He has managed ARTBA's contractors division, which includes more than 3,000 transportation construction companies and has worked as ARTBA's principal liaison to its three dozen affiliated chapters around the country. For the past six years, he has also managed ARTBA's public private partnerships division and its annual conference.

Prior to joining ARTBA's staff, Juliano was a White House liaison for the U.S. Department of Transportation under then-Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

Ken Doroshow.

Recording Industry Association of America has added Ken Doroshow as its chief legal officer.

The Washington, D.C., music industry trade organization had already seen Doroshow's leadership as its head of litigation from 2005 to 2008. Doroshow returns after a stint as a partner at Jenner & Block, where he represented media and entertainment clients with a focus on content protection, intellectual property enforcement, and First Amendment law.

In addition to his time at RIAA and in private practice, Doroshow was the general counsel to the Entertainment Software Association. He also has experience as a prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Division Federal Programs Branch.