July continued the monthslong trend of more top lawyers ascending to higher nonlegal C-suite positions and some holding these positions in conjunction with their legal work.

Global consulting firm Accenture promoted its former general counsel to CEO as did carbonated liquid maker Sodastream. Cosmetic giant Estée Lauder gave its general counsel the newly created vice chairman role. Over the past few months, more general counsel and chief legal officers have become CEOs on an interim or permanent basis at companies.

Some top lawyers added other C-suite roles to the job titles like Ideaya Biosciences Inc. making its general counsel also the chief financial officer.

Even former chief legal officers are taking these other C-suite positions. The former RetailMeNot top lawyer has assumed the newly created chief operating officer position at Next Coast Ventures.

During the midyear hiring season, major legal departments welcomed new head lawyers. Nordstrom nabbed a former Macy’s lawyer to be its general counsel while Discover hired PayPal’s general counsel to lead its legal team. Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. gave the top lawyer title to a former Office Depot Inc. top lawyer. Taco Bell legal department veteran took the chief legal officer position at another Southern California fast food chain with El Pollo Loco.

Some high-profile departures also marked the month with top lawyers either retiring or moving to another company. Heineken USA‘s chief legal officer left in late June after 21 years at the Dutch beer company. Eli Lilly announced its general counsel is retiring at the end of the year after working in the legal department for 28 years. The former Public Storage chief legal officer, who left the California company in May, showed up as the top lawyer at Arrow Electronics in Colorado.

Education

Linda “Elle” Morgan has been named vice president and general counsel at Springfield College in Massachusetts. She will start her new role Aug. 26, the college’s statement said.

Morgan most recently worked for the commonwealth of Massachusetts in the areas of employment law adjudication and related statutory interpretation. Her previous experience also includes being associate dean for gender equity at Bard College and grant administrator at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She has also taught at Holyoke Community College and Greenfield Community College as an adjunct professor.

“I am pleased to have this opportunity to contribute to the distinct mission of Springfield College,” Morgan said in the statement. “I look forward to partnering with President [Mary-Beth] Cooper and all members of the Springfield College community in furthering the college’s historic commitment to the education of the whole person.”

Denison University named Alexandra Schimmer general counsel. Schimmer will start in her new position Aug. 19, according to the university’s statement.

Schimmer joins Denison from The Ohio State University, where she was the deputy general counsel. Before going in-house at universities, Schimmer joined the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, serving first as the chief deputy solicitor general and then as solicitor general. She clerked for federal judges in New York and Ohio before becoming a litigator at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Columbus, Ohio.

“I am honored to be joining an institution so committed to the highest ideals of the liberal arts. At the root of my professional and personal commitments has been my own grounding in a strong liberal arts education, which taught me lessons that I continue to deploy every day as a lawyer and campus partner,” Schimmer said in the statement. “I believe deeply in the vital function higher education plays for the common good and feel privileged to be joining a team so devoted to advancing Denison’s mission of preparing students to lead lives of purpose and engagement.”

Fort Hays State University’s president Tisa Mason has appointed Joe Bain to the general counsel post, according to the Hays, Kansas-based university’s announcement. Bain, also an alum of the university, will begin his new role in August.

Since 2011, Bain has been a member, vice president, attorney and co-manager for Cure & Bain P.C. in Goodland, Kansas. From 2009 to 2011, he was a senior attorney at international engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch Corp. in Overland Park, Kansas. He started his legal career as an associate at Warden Triplett Grier in Overland Park and as a judicial clerk in the Seventh Judicial District of Kansas.

“This university has a history of providing access to a quality higher education for many first-generation, lower-income and diverse-background students,” Bain said in the announcement. “It is an honor and a privilege to serve this university and to be on the team responsible for taking FHSU into the future.”

Finance

Genesis, a New York-based digital currency trading and lending firm, named Arianna Pretto-Sakmann as general counsel in a company announcement.

Pretto-Sakmann was previously an attorney with two major international law firms in London and New York, where she advised financial insiders on cross-border regulatory matters, according to Genesis’ press release.

Reliant Funding, a San Diego-based small business finance provider, added Gianna Ravenscroft to its team as general counsel.

According to Reliant’s announcement, Ravenscroft most recently served as associate general counsel at Axos Bank, formerly BofI Federal Bank. She also served as managing counsel at Toyota Financial Services and worked at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington, D.C.

Real estate-focused financial technology company Cloudvirga appointed Maria Moskver as its chief legal and compliance officer.

Prior to joining Irvine, California-based Cloudvirga, Moskver served Covius as its general counsel and enterprise compliance officer. Additionally, she was the general counsel and chief compliance officer at Walz Group and helped facilitate its sale to LenderLive.

“As I learned more about Cloudvirga, I saw an organization with an unyielding commitment to enable a compliant experience for both lenders and consumers,” Moskver said in the company statement. “The traditional technology company adage of ‘move fast and break things’ does not work in the mortgage industry, and Cloudvirga’s leadership team strikes the perfect balance between being transformational while prioritizing compliance.”

BroadRiver Asset Management L.P., a New York-based alternative assets manager, named Emma Dickson as general counsel and chief compliance officer.

Dickson was most recently counsel to the investment funds practice group at the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld office in London, according to BroadRiver’s announcement. From 2014 to 2017, she was general counsel at Criterion Capital Management LLC, a San Francisco-based investment adviser. Prior to Criterion, she worked as an attorney for Man Investments. Dickson was also an associate in the investment management practice group at Schulte Roth & Zabel.

Health

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc., a Brisbane, California, genomic medicine company, has appointed Gary H. Loeb as executive vice president and general counsel.

Before joining Sangamo, Loeb served as the first general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer at biopharmaceutical company Achaogen, according to the company’s announcement. Loeb also worked in-house at genetic screening company Counsyl, integrated renewable products company Amyris Inc. and biotechnology company Genentech.

Obsidian Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering controllable cell and gene therapies, has named Dr. Karen Brown as senior vice president of intellectual property and legal affairs.

Brown most recently served as the vice president and chief intellectual property counsel at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to Obsidian’s announcement. Prior to Ironwood, she served as senior patent counsel at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Schering-Plough Corp. Brown started her legal career as an associate at Fish & Neave, now a part of Ropes & Gray and a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Brown has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Boston University and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Nikki Baker-Limore, a former prosecutor and Indian Child Welfare executive director, has been selected to serve as general counsel of Cherokee Nation Health Services in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

The Cherokee Nation Health Services is the largest tribal health system in the country with more than 1.3 million patient visits per year in its eight health centers and W.W. Hastings Hospital, according to the organization’s press release. This fall the tribe will also open its 469,000-square-foot outpatient health center on the hospital campus and is partnering with Oklahoma State University to open a medical school campus next year.

“I look forward to this opportunity and the exciting times ahead for our Cherokee Nation health system,” Baker-Limore said in the release. “[Indian Child Welfare] will continue to do great things, and I am grateful to have been a part of it, and now I look forward to being part of another program that calls for new growth.”

Jerald Korn of Kaleido Biosciences Inc.

Kaleido Biosciences Inc., a clinical-stage health care company focused on the microbiome organ to treat disease and improve human health, has appointed Jerald Korn as general counsel and corporate secretary.

“I am delighted to be joining Kaleido at this exciting time in the company’s history,” Korn said in Kaleido’s announcement. “As a newly public company with a differentiated approach to targeting the microbiome and a broad pipeline, Kaleido’s focus is on the most important aspect of its business—serving the needs of patients. I’m looking forward to working with this accomplished team.”

Prior to joining Lexington, Massachusetts-based Kaleido, Korn most recently was the senior vice president and chief legal and administrative officer at Tesaro Inc. Previously, he was associate general counsel of commercial and health care at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Cubist, Korn served as deputy chief compliance officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and held several senior positions at AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc., including vice president, assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer. Korn began his legal career as an associate at Ropes & Gray.

Manufacturing

Jorgen Weterrings of Mitsubishi Motors North America.

Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. promoted Jorgen Weterrings to vice president and general counsel. He will replace John McElroy, who has retired from Mitsubishi after 34 years, according to the company’s statement.

Weterrings began his tenure with Cypress, California-based Mitsubishi in 2002, where he most recently held the position of assistant general counsel and director of legal affairs.

Prior to Mitsubishi, Weterrings was general counsel at Toyota Material Handling and managing counsel Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. Before his in-house career, Weterrings practiced as a civil litigator for 10 years.

Real Estate

The Broe Group has named Doug Van Wyk as general counsel and chief compliance officer. He replaces Bill Leonard, who will move to special project oversight for the real estate, transportation, energy and investment organization, according to the press release.

“This role presents a dynamic new challenge that I embrace,” Van Wyk said in the release. “My tenure with The Broe Group has provided extensive opportunities to hone our risk and revenue strategies and I’m excited to leverage that knowledge to help drive The Broe Group forward and achieve our company goals.”