Alphabet health technology company Verily has appointed Laura O’Donnell as general counsel.
O’Donnell joins Verily from McKesson where she had been the company’s first independent chief compliance officer (CCO) since 2019, a role in which she reported to the board’s compliance committee. According to Verily, she led important initiatives including McKesson’s Covid-19 executive response team and its Drug Supply Chain Security Act enterprise governance strategies.
Before her time with McKesson, O’Donnell held multiple roles in GE Healthcare’s legal department, including as general counsel of GE Healthcare and chief counsel for global affairs, according to the LinkedIn profile. During that period she was responsible for legal, compliance, clinical research, privacy and other functions across 120 countries.
Earlier, she was the first CCO at Zimmer-Biomet. Before moving in-house, O’Donnell spent a decade as an associate and then equity partner with law firm Faegre Benson as a medical device products liability attorney, advising clients in the life sciences industry.
Stephen Gillett, CEO of Verily, says in a statement: ‘Laura brings to Verily a wealth of legal and compliance expertise as well as decades of experience across the healthcare industry at some of the most successful companies in the sector. Her deep experience in galvanizing rapid company transformation and executing operational excellence across the enterprise will be a critical enabler for Verily as we further our precision health strategy.’
Cynthia Patton was general counsel and corporate secretary at Verily until April this year, when she joined Tessera Therapeutics as general counsel and secretary. Before joining Verily, Patton held several positions of increasing responsibility with Amgen, including as senior vice president and CCO for the company’s global privacy, trade and healthcare compliance organizations.
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...
