US
US nuclear power provider NuScale Power has confirmed the appointment of Shahram Ghasemian as chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
Ghasemian joins NuScale from Centrus Energy where he served as senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary.
Before this Ghasemian held several leadership positions within the federal government including the US Department of Energy, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and served as a senior legislative fellow on nuclear policy issues on Capitol Hill.
Elsewhere Allegion, a global security and access company, welcomed Joe Blasko as senior vice president and general counsel.
In this role, Blasko leads the company’s strategy and execution of all legal matters, including compliance, acquisitions and divestitures, securities, corporate governance, commercial contracts, intellectual property, sales and marketing, litigation, labor, employment and employee benefit law.
In addition, he is responsible for Allegion’s trade compliance, enterprise risk management and corporate communications functions.
Prior to joining Allegion, Blasko led legal and compliance as general counsel for LanzaTech Global, a carbon recycling company.
Staying in the US, ConnectOne Bancorp, parent company of ConnectOne Bank, appointed Robert Schwartz as general counsel. He has served as a legal advisor to ConnectOne since its launch in 2005
Before taking up the role, Schwartz was a partner at Windels Marx, with a focus on advising financial institutions on M&A and bank regulatory and securities law.
‘Schwartz has been an integral player to the bank since day one and we look forward to working with him in this new capacity,’ says Frank Sorrentino, chairman and CEO of ConnectOne, in a statement.
In other banking appointments, Fifth Third Bancorp confirmed several executive leadership changes, including the appointment of a new chief legal officer.
Christian Gonzalez will join Fifth Third as executive vice president, chief legal officer, as of July 7, when he will also join the company’s enterprise management team – the bank’s most senior governing body.
Gonzalez succeeds Susan Zaunbrecher, who retires later this year. She has led Fifth Third’s legal, government affairs and regulatory affairs departments and the office of the corporate secretary since 2018.
Gonzalez joins Fifth Third after a 15-year tenure at Dinsmore & Shohl, where he most recently served as an executive board member and corporate department chair.
Earlier this week, global minerals provider Compass Minerals named James Hughes as interim general counsel and corporate secretary of the company.
In an 8-K filing with the SEC, the company stated that Hughes will succeed Mary Frontczak, who acted as chief legal and administrative officer and corporate secretary.
Rest of World
Over in Australia, Accelerate Resources appointed Grant Mooney, already a non-executive director of the company, as its new company secretary.
Mooney will now act as the primary point of communications between the company and the Australian Securities Exchange.
Former company secretary Yaxi Zhan resigned from the role, effective July 1. No reason has been offered for Zhan’s resignation, however the company thanked Zhan for her contribution to the organization and ‘wishes her well in her future endeavors’.
Kogan.com, Australia’s largest online retailer, has appointed Belinda Cleminson as company secretary, succeeding Mark Licciardo, who has stepped down from the role effective immediately.
Cleminson enters the role with more than 23 years of experience as a company secretary of Australian companies, including ASX200 clients.
She is also a member of the Governance Institute of Australia, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Elsewhere, SiriusPoint, a Bermuda-headquartered global insurer and reinsurer, named Andrew Pryde as group chief risk officer. Effective as of September, Pryde will be responsible for overseeing the company’s global risk management strategy.
He joins SiriusPoint from Catalina Re, where he served as group chief risk officer. Before this he held executive director and group chief risk officer roles at both Beazley and DARAG.
He has also held chairman of the board positions at BHI Digital, a digital managing general agent, and Lodestone Security, a US-based cyber consulting company.
