Appointments: July 2015

Maria Trainor

1) Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp has appointed Maria (‘Masha’) Trainor as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary.

Prior to joining the specialty steel manufacturer, Trainor was a corporate partner at international law firm K&L Gates, where she provided strategic legal counsel to public and private businesses on a wide range of general corporate, compliance, regulatory, governance, securities, international and domestic M&A, and commercial contract matters.

‘Her broad experience in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and financing transactions make her a well-suited addition to our team to help us grow the corporation and drive the legal strategy as we develop and implement our strategic plan,’ Executive Vice President Rose Hoover said in a news release

Trainor earned a BS in business administration from Missouri Southern State University, an MBA from The University of Tulsa College of Business Administration and a JD from the University of Tulsa College of Law. She is a member of the board of directors of the Pittsburgh Women’s Center and Shelter and a member of Pittsburgh Business Times’ BizWomen Insiders Club.

2) Peter Graham has been named senior vice president, general counsel, human resources, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary of Antares Pharma. He succeeds Jennifer Evans Stacey in those roles and will report to president and CEO Eamonn Hobbs.

Graham joins Antares from Delcath Systems, where he served as executive vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and global human resources. Before that he was vice president, general counsel and a member of the executive committee of ACIST Medical Systems. Prior to ACIST, he spent 11 years as EZ-EM, a global medical device and pharmaceutical firm, in a variety of management positions, most recently as senior vice president, chief legal officer, global human resources and secretary from 2005 to 2008.

He earned his JD at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N Cardoza School of Law and his BA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Stacey Friedman

3) JPMorgan Chase has appointed Stacey Friedman as general counsel of the company's corporate & investment bank, effective in early 2016. She will succeed Steve Cutler, who will be appointed vice chairman of the firm. Friedman will report to Cutler and serve as his deputy for the rest of this year and will join the company's firm-wide operating committee next year when her new role becomes effective. Starting next year, both Cutler and Friedman will report to chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon in their new roles.

Cutler recruited Friedman to join JPMorgan three years ago from Sullivan & Cromwell, where, as a partner, she spent more than a year working full-time with JPMorgan on matters ranging from mortgage-backed securities to its acquisition of Washington Mutual. In a pro bono case while at Sullivan & Cromwell, she worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to successfully challenge a 2008 Arkansas law that made it illegal for unmarried couples to adopt children,  effectively barring same-sex couples from adopting.

In his new role, Cutler will continue to assist on complex legal issues, including key matters already in progress. He is expected to advise on important corporate governance and shareholder matters, as well as regulatory issues and culture initiatives.

Clarissa Weirick

4) Clarissa Weirick has been named as general counsel of Universal Pictures’ Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. She will report to Chairman Jeff Shell and to NBCUniversal executive vice president and general counsel Kimberley Harris.

Weirick will jointly oversee the various legal departments with the studio’s business leaders and will work closely with the NBCUniversal corporate legal resources on corporate transactional, litigation and other legal matters. She will also be in charge of Fandango’s legal matters as part of the Filmed Entertainment Group.

She joins Universal after spending 18 years at Warner Bros in various legal roles within the studio. sues impacting the Filmed Entertainment Group. Most recently, she served as executive vice president and general counsel of the Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group, where she was responsible for all licensing, sales, production, acquisitions, marketing and daily operational legal matters relating to the physical and digital distribution of the studio’s film and television products, as well as development and publishing of interactive video games, all on a worldwide basis.

Prior to that, Weirick was senior vice president and general counsel of the Digital Distribution Group between 2006 and 2011. Before working at Warner Bros, she handled real estate and corporate matters for Fidelity Federal Bank. She has also been an associate with Armstrong & Hirsch and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Sarah Miller

5) Williams Companies has appointed Sarah Miller as general counsel, reporting directly to president and CEO Alan Armstrong. She succeeds Craig Rainey, who has retired.

Miller previously served as vice president, corporate secretary and assistant general counsel for the natural gas infrastructure provider’s corporate secretary team, and was appointed to the interim general counsel position in March 2015.

She joined Williams in 2000 and has served in a variety of legal leadership roles, including assistant general counsel, senior counsel for the company’s midstream business, and senior attorney for the legal department’s business development team. Before coming to Williams, Miller was a litigation associate at Crowe & Dunlevy.

She earned a BA in English with Honors from Oklahoma State University and graduated Summa Cum Laude and earned her JD from Oklahoma City University. Miller currently serves as board development chair for Transitional Living Centers of Oklahoma, where she has been a board member since 2013. She previously served as advisory council chair for Marquette Catholic School and as a board member for Neighbor for Neighbor.