New developments at the SEC, the Hartford, Prudential, Aetna and more
SEC
The SEC has announced that Anne Small has been named general counsel of the agency. She succeeds Geoffrey Aronow, who will become a senior counsel to the chairman. Small comes to the SEC from the White House Counsel’s Office, where she had been serving as special assistant to the president and associate counsel to the president since October 2011. She has advised on legal policy questions, with a focus on economic issues.
Small previously worked at the SEC as deputy general counsel for litigation and adjudication, helping to oversee enforcement matters, appellate cases and adjudications. She becomes the first woman to be named general counsel of the SEC.
‘I’m delighted Annie will be returning to the agency at a time when our rule writing is in full swing and our enforcement program continues to pursue cases involving some of the most complex transactions,’ says SEC chair Mary Jo White. ‘The commission will benefit from her experience, judgment and tremendous talent.’
Before entering government, Small worked at WilmerHale, where she was a partner in the company’s litigation department. She was involved in commercial and securities litigation, a broad range of civil and criminal matters, and trial and appellate work. She began her career as a law clerk for Judge Guido Calabresi on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice Stephen Breyer on the US Supreme Court.
The Hartford
The Hartford Financial Services Group, a leader in property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds, has appointed Donald Hunt as vice president, corporate secretary and associate general counsel.
In addition to his new responsibilities, Hunt will continue to lead the group’s securities and corporate governance law functions. He joined The Hartford in 2007 after three years with the SEC’s division of corporation finance. He previously maintained a corporate law practice from 1998 to 2004, first with the Washington, DC office of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, and then with the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster.
Ceridian
Ceridian, a global provider of human capital management solutions, has announced the appointment of Bruce McPheeters as general counsel and secretary. He assumes responsibility for the firm’s legal and regulatory affairs and reports to Stuart Harvey, Ceridian’s chairman, president and chief executive.
McPheeters brings a wealth of experience with both private and public companies to his new position at Ceridian. Prior to joining the company, he was general counsel and corporate secretary for XRS, which develops mobile compliance and fleet management software solutions. Prior to XRS, he was general counsel, corporate secretary and senior vice president of Lawson Software, a provider of enterprise resource planning applications.
Illumina
Illumina, a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function, has appointed Charles Dadswell senior vice president and general counsel. He assumes all functional responsibilities previously held by Christian Cabou, who has retired, and has worldwide responsibility for all legal and intellectual property matters as well as being secretary to Illumina’s board of directors.
Dadswell joins Illumina with more than 20 years of leadership and legal experience at healthcare-focused technology companies. Most recently, he was vice president and general counsel for North and Latin America and corporate director of global intellectual property at bioMérieux.
Prior to bioMérieux, Dadswell was general counsel of BioDelivery Sciences International, a specialty pharmaceutical company. He also oversaw US intellectual property in a variety of positions with Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome and GlaxoSmithKline.
Availity
Health information network Availity has named Karin Lindgren as its senior vice president of legal and regulatory affairs and general counsel. In addition to overseeing the company’s legal, audit and regulatory functions, she serves as chief compliance officer and corporate secretary.
Lindgren brings 28 years’ experience as a healthcare technology lawyer to her new position. She has a significant background in entrepreneurial healthcare software, technology companies and medical informatics.
Most recently, she was general counsel for the Reed Group, a cloud computing software and informatics services company. She also previously served as a law firm partner at two firms, and as general counsel and chief compliance officer for the University HealthSystem Consortium, an alliance of academic medical centers.
‘Compliance and risk management are increasingly complex fields in healthcare technology, as more information is made available electronically,’ says Availity CEO Russ Thomas in a statement. ‘Lindgren brings a unique perspective with both a stellar legal and regulatory background and significant experience as a senior executive in health information technology.’
Catalina
Catalina has appointed Ira Parker as executive vice president and general counsel, responsible for managing Catalina’s legal team and serving as a strategic adviser on domestic and international matters.
Prior to joining Catalina, Parker was co-CEO and president of Zink Imaging. Previously, he served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for AOL, managing a legal department of more than 70 attorneys. He was responsible for numerous acquisitions and divestitures at AOL, including its spin-off from Time Warner.
Other roles Parker has held include general counsel for Polaroid, Genuity and GTE Internetworking. Earlier, he served as a deputy general counsel for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He began his legal career in private practice, and ultimately became a partner with Alston & Bird.
WisdomTree Investments
WisdomTree Investments, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) sponsor and asset manager, has appointed Ryan Louvar to the post of general counsel of WisdomTree Asset Management. Louvar, formerly vice president and senior managing counsel at State Street, served as chief legal officer for the SPDR family of ETFs, comprising more than $250 billion in assets.
Louvar brings more than 15 years of legal experience, with a specific focus on ETFs, to WisdomTree. While at State Street, he also acted as the key liaison for each SPDR ETF board and served on the company’s executive team that focused on ETFs. Prior to State Street, he served as counsel at BISYS (Citigroup) Fund Services, where he provided legal services to more than 250 mutual funds, hedge funds and investment advisers.
Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial has named Royanne Doi, chief legal officer at Prudential of Japan, as Prudential’s corporate chief ethics officer.
‘As so many Prudential employees are located outside the US, it is fitting to have the corporate chief ethics officer also located outside corporate headquarters,’ says Lee Augsburger, vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer at Prudential, in a statement. ‘Royanne’s professional background in the international arena will be a strong asset in helping Prudential address the diverse cultural intricacies of ethics in our offices around the world.’
In her new role, Doi heads up the company’s global business ethics and integrity office and has oversight responsibility for implementing strategies to drive high ethical standards, educating the firm’s global workforce, and reinforcing the integration of ethics across Prudential’s businesses.
Doi joined Prudential in 2009 and has been responsible for managing legal risks and reviewing risk assessment matrices for new products and services. In addition, she was instrumental in establishing the corporate secretary team that manages shareholder, board of director and statutory auditor meetings.
Previously, she held senior legal positions with major financial firms in Tokyo, including State Street and CIGNA/ACE Insurance. She is active with the Japan In-House Counsel Network, the Association of Women in Finance in Japan, Japan’s Foreign Women Lawyer’s Association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and is treasurer of the Japan-US Education Commission/Fulbright Program.
Aetna
Aetna has named Thomas Jones as chief ethics and compliance officer. In this capacity, he oversees, develops and integrates compliance strategies, policies and procedures across Aetna’s enterprise and leads the compliance department. He succeeds Thomas Young, who is retiring from Aetna after 27 years of service.
Jones joins Aetna from The Hartford Financial Services Group, where he was senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer. In that role, he oversaw the compliance program for the company’s diversified financial services products, retirement plans, group benefits, and personal and commercial property/casualty insurance businesses.
Prior to The Hartford, Jones was chief compliance officer for SEI Funds and its investment advisers. He has also held a number of executive positions, including first vice president and compliance director for the Americas at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. He began his career as an associate in the business and finance practice of Morgan Lewis & Bockius.
Colombian Mines
Colombian Mines has announced David Cross as its new chief financial officer and corporate secretary. He takes over the responsibilities of David Miles, who has resigned as chief financial officer, and Kim Casswell, who resigned as corporate secretary in April.
Cross is a certified general accountant (CGA) and a partner in the CGA firm of Cross Davis. He began his accounting career in 1997 and gained his CGA designation in 2004.
