Veritiv Corporation appoints new general counsel from in-house

NYSE-listed Veritiv Corporation is promoting Susan Salyer, the company’s senior vice president and chief compliance and sustainability officer, to become general counsel and corporate secretary, effective June 1.

In her new role, Salyer will continue to have compliance and sustainability oversight and will also be responsible for Veritiv’s legal and corporate security teams. She will succeed Mark Hianik who has announced plans to retire from the company.

Salyer joined Atlanta-based Veritiv in 2012 and has held a variety of legal and compliance positions including assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer. According to the company, she led Veritiv’s 2020 CSR report and the establishment of the company’s sustainability working group. She also heads up Veritiv’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiative and is the executive sponsor for the women’s employee resource group.

Before joining Veritiv, she was senior vice president and general counsel for National Lending Associates and, before that, associate general counsel for Student Loan Xpress. She was previously an attorney with Thompson Hine.

Hianik has been senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Veritiv since joining the company in January 2014. Before that he was senior vice president, general counsel and chief administrative officer for advertising and marketing services company Dex One Corporation and its predecessor, RH Donnelley Corporation. Earlier in his career he was vice president and assistant general counsel for media firm Tribune Company and a corporate and securities partner with Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon.

Veritiv CEO Sal Abbate says in a statement: ‘Susan has demonstrated the capacity to take on a wide range of responsibilities and works tirelessly and professionally to deliver outstanding results. She is passionate about empowering people and creating an inclusive environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas and working together toward a common goal. I am proud that we are able to promote a current employee into this role as it speaks to our ongoing employee development, intentional succession planning and providing opportunities for team members to achieve their aspirations.

‘Mark was one of the first employees hired when the company was formed in 2014 and was instrumental in developing Veritiv’s legal, compliance and corporate governance processes and procedures as a new public company. His pioneering work helped navigate Veritiv successfully to where we are today. We are truly appreciative of his excellent guidance, counsel and support. I personally would like to thank Mark for his role in preparing me for the CEO role and making my transition as smooth as possible.’