Long-serving AB InBev general counsel Chalmers leaves company as new legal chief takes reins
Drinks giant appoints new in-house leadership after last year's SABMiller mega-merger
September 14, 2017 at 04:32 AM
3 minute read
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) general counsel Sabine Chalmers has left the company after almost 13 years, following its multibillion-pound takeover of drinks rival SABMiller last year.
AB InBev, which is best known for brands including Budweiser, Corona, Beck's and Stella Artois, has announced that John Blood, vice-president for corporate affairs and legal, took over as GC and company secretary on 1 August.
Blood, who will also succeed Chalmers on AB InBev's executive board of management, has been at the company since joining from Diageo in 2009 as vice-president for legal, commercial and M&A. His most recent role saw him lead the legal and corporate affairs agenda for the US and Canada.
Chalmers is leaving AB InBev to pursue a variety of interests, including taking up a non-executive director role at beauty company Coty – where she will also serve on the audit and finance committee – as well as a board role at the Royal National Theatre. She also plans to teach law and MBA courses in London and the US, and establish a foundation to support female education in India.
Prior to the 2008 merger of InBev and Anheuser-Busch, Chalmers was chief legal officer at InBev for more than three years. She started her career at legacy Lovell White Durrant before moving in-house to Guinness in 1993, ahead of the 1997 merger with Grand Metropolitan which created Diageo.
At Diageo she rose through the ranks to become North America GC in 2002, before joining InBev in 2005, where she played a key role in some of the world's largest-ever M&A deals.
As GC, Chalmers led the in-house team on the £79bn SABMiller takeover, a deal which was first announced in 2015 and completed in October last year. AB InBev worked with external counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which fielded a team led by London M&A partner Mark Rawlinson, London head of corporate Simon Marchant and antitrust partner John Davies.
Linklaters took the lead role for SABMiller, while Herbert Smith Freehills also picked up a role on the deal, advising BevCo, SABMiller's second largest shareholder. Allen & Overy advised the banks, which funded a $75bn loan to AB InBev for the deal.
Former SABMiller GC John Davidson, who stepped down following the takeover, is now acting as an "independent consultant on on governance, corporate affairs and business issues", according to his LinkedIn profile, which also notes that he has taken up a non-executive directorship at Irish whiskey distillery Sliabh Liag.
- Sabine Chalmers is among a heavyweight line-up of general counsel, big-name business figures and law firm leaders who will be speaking at the LegalWeek Connect event this November, which will focus on talent, technology and new thinking in the world of law. Click here to register for the event.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllNetflix Offices Raided by Authorities in Paris and Amsterdam
Report Spotlights Bullying, Harassment Facing In-House Lawyers
Australian Gambling Machine Giant Hires Insider as CLO, Relocates Her to Las Vegas
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Trump's Return to the White House: The Legal Industry Reacts
- 3Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 4Climate Disputes, International Arbitration, and State Court Limitations for Global Issues
- 5Judicial Face-Off: Navigating the Ethical and Efficient Use of AI in Legal Practice [CLE Pending]
- 6How Much Does the Frequency of Retirement Withdrawals Matter?
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250