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Oct 18, 2018

Bayer picks new top US lawyer

Former general counsel moving to adidas

Bayer has appointed Scott Partridge as the company’s next US general counsel.

Partridge, who took up his new position on October 1, succeeds former general counsel Jan Heinemann, who is moving to adidas. Partridge is former vice president of global strategy for Monsanto, which is now part of Bayer. He reports to president of Bayer US Philip Blake.

Heinemann was general counsel, head of law, patents and compliance for North America, based in New York. He joins adidas as general counsel, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

Partridge joined Monsanto in 2006 as chief deputy general counsel to lead the international law function, manage litigation and guide the resolution of significant disputes. In 2008 he was appointed to a newly created business role in which he developed a cross-functional team to generate risk-mitigation programs and develop integrated competition and communications strategies for the company.

At the time of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto this year, Partridge was a member of Monsanto’s leadership team, overseeing global competition policy, co-ordinating strategic advocacy on critical issues and leading the company’s dispute resolution activities.

‘Scott Partridge has been a champion for innovation at Monsanto, and he played an invaluable role in helping us to bring our two great companies together,’ Blake says in a statement.

In his new role, Heinemann will lead the strategic direction for all legal and compliance affairs at adidas, reporting to CEO Kasper Rorsted. He will succeed Frank Dassler as general counsel, effective November 26. Dassler left the company earlier this year since when the role of general counsel has been temporarily assumed by Paul Ehrlich, general counsel for global brands and the Americas.

‘I am pleased that with Jan Heinemann we have been able to win over a competent general counsel… who is experienced in dealing with the legal issues of a globally active company… I would like to thank Paul Ehrlich for leading the team on an interim basis,’ Rorsted says in a public announcement.

 

Ben Maiden

Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...