Gina Vetere, general counsel with Entertainment Software Association. Courtesy photo Gina Vetere, general counsel with Entertainment Software Association. Courtesy photo

The Entertainment Software Association in D.C. announced Thursday it has made a Covington & Burling attorney its new general counsel.

Gina Vetere has been named the vice president and general counsel of the association that puts on the popular Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as the E3 Expo.

John Veroneau, the former ambassador and deputy U.S. trade representative and current co-chairman of the international trade practice group at Covington, said he has worked with Vetere for over a decade.

"She will be missed by clients and colleagues alike, but we look forward to seeing her do great things with Stan and others at ESA," Veroneau said in the press release.

Vetere said she is excited to be working with ESA.

"ESA has a remarkable track-record of promoting the innovation and creativity that fuel this dynamic industry and protecting the rights of consumers, developers, artists, and storytellers," Vetere said in a statement to Corporate Counsel on Friday.

Vetere was of counsel at Covington from 2013 to last month in Washington, D.C., where she helped companies address international trade and regulatory policy priorities, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has been the executive director of international intellectual property at the global intellectual property center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Vetere has served as the director of intellectual property and innovation and as a senior policy adviser at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The University of Virginia School of Law graduate also was an associate at DLA Piper.

ESA CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis said in the press release that Vetere is a known law and policy leader.

"Her wealth of knowledge and diversity of experience will enhance the services and value we provide to our members and the video game industry," Pierre-Louis said.

In May, Pierre-Louis, who had served as the general counsel of the association, was named the permanent CEO of the association. Pierre-Louis had been serving as the interim CEO since October 2018. The general counsel position had been vacant since Pierre-Louis was promoted.