Jeff Braun is setting aside his retirement plans to reclaim his old post as Allegion’s top legal executive, stepping in to replace Stacy Cozad, who exited the role after just three months with the company.

Allegion, one of the world's largest lockmakers, announced the surprising developments on Tuesday. It declined to provide a statement explaining why Braun was back or Cozad was gone. Braun and Cozad did not respond to Law.com's requests for comment.

The company, which is based in Ireland for tax purposes but locates most of its senior executives in suburban Indianapolis, had said in July that Braun, 64, would turn over the GC post to Cozad on Aug. 5 and after helping with the transition would officially retire on Dec. 31, wrapping up his 38-year legal career. He'd earlier spent more than two decades at General Motors, stationed for a time in Australia, China, India, Poland and Switzerland.

Cozad joined Allegion from the South Carolina-based chemical manufacturer Ingevity, where she'd been general counsel for three years. Before that, she was general counsel of Spirit AeroSystems for five years and associate general counsel of Southwest Airlines for nine years.

The shake-up comes as Allegion, whose lock brands include Schlage and Von Duprin, is performing well. In the first nine months of the year, revenue rose 3%, to $2.8 billion, and profits rose 8%, to $453 million.

Allegion has about 12,400 workers and has a stock market value of $12.4 billion.