American Express' six-month search for a permanent general counsel (GC) has ended with the appointment of Laureen Seeger, former executive vice president, GC and chief compliance officer of healthcare giant McKesson.

Seeger, who has led the law, public affairs, compliance and corporate secretary functions at McKeeson since 2006, will also serve as AmEx's executive vice president, reporting directly to the financial services company's chairman and chief executive Kenneth Chenault.

She will take charge of the company's legal, compliance and ethics and corporate secretary organisations, and will assume additional responsibility for federal and state government affairs later this year.

Seeger joined McKesson in 2000 as general counsel of the corporation's technology division, leading on M&A transactions and product development.

At McKesson, associate GC and one-time Morrison & Foerster litigation parnter Lori Schechter has been appointed as Seeger's replacement.

Seeger takes over from interim GC Tim Heine, who took on the role after AmEx veteran Louise Parent joined Clearly Gottleib Steen and Hamilton's New York office in the spring.

AmEx is just one of several big corporates recently forced to appoint interim GCs as they set about searching for permanent replacements, including Lloyds Banking Group and the Green Investment Bank.

In March, Amex announced that a group of investors led by Certares had committed $900m to a joint venture for its global business travel division which, if successful, will be the largest one-off investment in a travel management company ever made.