Corporate austerity measures amid the coronavirus pandemic have apparently spurred the departure of the top lawyer for global chemicals and materials company Ingevity Corp. 

Katherine Pryor Burgeson, who has served as Ingevity's executive vice president and general counsel since 2015, decided to take early retirement in the wake of the company announcing in early June that it was looking to cut costs by reducing staff, cutting benefits and decreasing outside spending on consultants and services. 

Ingevity announced Monday that Burgeson, 62, "opted to participate in the company's previously announced early retirement program," though her retirement date has yet to be announced. She will stay with the company as her successor, Ryan Fisher, steps up from his post as Ingevity's deputy general counsel to take over as chief lawyer. 

"Ingevity implemented a corporate-wide early retirement program as a cost-reduction measure in response to weakened demand resulting from the coronavirus. Kathy was eligible and opted to retire as part of that program," a spokeswoman for Ingevity stated Monday.

Fisher joined Ingevity in 2016. He and Burgeson both previously worked in the legal departments of Ingevity's former parent companies, MeadWestvaco Corp. and WestRock Co. Attempts to speak with Burgeson and Fisher were not immediately successful. 

Last year, Burgeson's base salary rose nearly 4% to $405,000 and she received a $241,542 bonus along with $445,651 in stock awards and options and $97,280 in other compensation, bringing her total pay to more than $1.4 million, according to Ingevity's most recent proxy statement. 

Katherine Pryor Burgeson.

In 2018, her compensation totaled more than $1.3 million, a healthy bump from the $1,091,538 she took home in 2017. 

Ingevity declined to provide Fisher's compensation history. 

Headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina, Ingevity has agreements with WestRock and Georgia-Pacific to purchase crude tall oil from both companies' paper mills. Ingevity uses the chemical by-product of paper production to make special chemicals and materials for a wide array of industries. The company also makes activated carbon used in automotive gasoline vapor emissions control systems. 

Ingevity reported $288 million in net sales for the first quarter of this year, a 4.1% increase over the first quarter of 2019. But the company has been bracing for fallout from the coronavirus outbreak's impact on the global supply chain and financial markets. 

"The reduction in Chinese auto demand muted our performance materials results to the extent we expected; however, most other COVID-19 related impacts in performance chemicals appear to have been delayed," Rick Kelson, Ingevity's board chairman, interim president and CEO told investors in April. "We expect the effects of the coronavirus to more significantly begin in the second quarter."

In announcing Burgeson's retirement, Kelson applauded her "great leadership and commitment to establishing a strong culture of compliance at Ingevity.

"In addition, she has been critical in leading the defense of our performance materials' intellectual property. Kathy leaves our legal function amply poised for future success, and we wish her the best in her retirement," he added. 

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