GC Appointments

HSBC is reorganizing its risk and compliance efforts, which for company division HSBC Global Asset Management means a strong industry veteran to lead the charge. Enter Sandie Okoro, who took over the job as general counsel of HSBC Global Asset Management on Jan. 20. HSBC created general counsel positions for multiple of their global divisions, although according to The Lawyer, Okoro is believed to be the only appointee brought from outside the business. Okoro previously spent the past seven years as general counsel of investment firm Barings.

IPOs are minefields for company legal departments to sort through, especially when the company involved is a start-up in the technology sector. Thus, many companies hire a general counsel leading up to the big day, such as DataStax has done with industry veteran Clint Smith. Before joining DataStax, Smith headed the legal departments at UUNET, Macromedia and TrialPay and served as general counsel at MySQL AB through its $1 billion acquisition by Sun Microsystems in 2008. “Clint's deep experience with open-source technologies and corporate law will help take us to the next level as we address the huge opportunity within the operational database market,” said DataStax CEO Billy Bosworth in a press release.

Independent global infrastructure investment platform I Squared Capital (ISQ) has shored up its legal department's infrastructure with the hire of William Campbell as general counsel and chief compliance officer. Campbell comes to ISQ by way of the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where he was a partner in the firm's New York office and co-chair of the firm's Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group. Sadek Wahba, managing partner of ISQ, said in a release that many on the ISQ legal team had worked with Campbell previously. Campbell added, “I am delighted to be part of I Squared Capital and look forward to working with a team I have known for many years and consider best in class.”

Scheck Industries, a full-service national industrial piping and mechanical construction contractor, has hired Karen Layng as the company's general counsel and vice president corporate development officer. Layng had already previously served as an advisor to the company's board of directors and will continue to do so from her new position on the executive team. Layng previously worked at Vedder Price, P.C., where she was a shareholder and chair of the construction law group. “Her construction and general commercial business experience is invaluable to help us achieve our future corporate goals,” said company chairman Richard N. Schneck in a press release.

Technology company NVIDIA is looking to shake up its legal team moving forward with one promotion and another hire. Previous general counsel David Shannon has been promoted to the newly-created position of Chief Administrative Officer, which includes responsibility for legal, HR and IP licensing. In his place, meanwhile, NVIDIA has hired Brian Cabrera to serve as the company's newest general counsel. Cabrera previously worked at Synopsys, where he served for eight years as senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and chief ethics and compliance officer. Cabrera has also worked in-house at Callidus Software, PeopleSoft, Netscape and Silicon Graphics. “Brian will be a great addition to our team with his strong legal and technology background and extensive industry experience,” said NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang in a press release.

Amaya Gaming Group, which provides gaming products and services including casino, poker, sportsbook, platform, lotteries and slot machines, is going all-in with the hire of Marlon D. Goldstein as company general counsel and EVP, corporate development. Goldstein previously served as a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at Greenberg Traurig, where he was also the co-chair of the firm's Gaming Practice. “With his strong background in gaming, governance, finance and M&A, Marlon has the experience and expertise to oversee our legal team and help us achieve our corporate objectives,” said Amaya CEO David Baazov in a press release.

Kevin Boyle has completed multiple tours of duty in various in-house legal departments, and he will be expected to use that expertise to global engineering company Alion Science and Technology's advantage. Before Alion, Boyle helped establish the first legal department at MCR, LLC. He also has served as GC of Vangent, Inc., helping establish the company's sale to General Dynamics for $1 billion, and also as assistant GC of General Dynamics itself. “Kevin brings significant experience across a broad set of disciplines that are relevant to our business, and his understanding of the environment in which we operate is ideally matched to Alion's strategy for success,” said Alion Chairman and CEO, Bahman Atefi in a press release.

Other In-House Moves

Sirius XM Radio hasn't been in the market for a new GC for a long time, as Patrick L. Donnelly has held down the position since May 1998. Now, according to allaccess.com, that hold on the top spot will continue even longer after Donnelly signed a contract with Sirius that will keep him in place through January 2017. According to a company 8-K filing with the SEC, Donnelly's new contract will pay him $725,000 plus bonuses per year, but the updated contract also removes a “golden parachute” from the company.