Appointments: November 2013

The board of directors of 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide Holdings, the health club and personal training services provider, has announced the election of Elizabeth Blair as president and CEO. Blair previously served as executive vice president, chief strategy officer and general counsel of the firm. She succeeds former CEO Carl Liebert, who left the company in May 2013 to become president of USAA Capital.

Prior to joining 24 Hour Fitness in February 2013, Blair served as CEO of the internet marketing firm Brand.net. Earlier in her career, she worked as Yahoo!’s senior vice president of business operations for the global operating group (sales, product, marketing, international) from 2003 to 2007. She joined Yahoo! in 1998, working first in corporate and business development, and later as vice president and senior vice president of the company’s Local Media Group. Before working at Yahoo!, she was a member of the M&A team at Primedia and a securities and corporate transactional lawyer in private practice.

AGCO, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and infrastructure, has appointed Roger Batkin as vice president and general counsel. 

Batkin joined the company in 2000, and had been serving as interim general counsel since June in addition to his roles as vice president of legal services for the EAME and APAC regions and director of UK operations.

Global security company Northrop Grumman has announced the appointment of Harvey Nathan as assistant general counsel, government contracts and government relations.

In this role, Nathan will provide legal counsel for corporate government relations, contracts, business development and strategy organizations, as well as Northrop Grumman’s Political Action Committee, ENGPAC.

Before joining Northrop Grumman, Nathan was vice president of contracts for EADS North America. Prior to joining the private sector, he spent nearly 30 years providing legal guidance to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the US Navy. Beginning in 1970, he served in roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in his work as deputy general counsel for acquisition and logistics in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as special assistant to the general counsel for globalization and international industrial matters.

Nathan has received several awards for his public service, including the DoD Distinguished Civilian Service medal, two SES Meritorious Presidential Rank awards, the Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service award and the Department of the Navy Superior Civilian Service award.

Board portal provider Diligent Board Member Services has appointed Thomas Tartaro to the post of executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary.

Tartaro was previously chief administrative officer, general counsel and corporate secretary at Open Solutions, a multinational provider of enterprise-wide software-as-a-service and technology license solutions for financial institutions. During his 11 years at Open Solutions, Tartaro oversaw $2.1 billion in capital raises, including a successful IPO and follow-on offering, convertible and subordinated notes offerings and three bank debt offerings. He also successfully completed more than 20 M&A transactions in the US and Canada, including a $1.4 billion go-private transaction.

Cambium Networks, a provider of wireless broadband access and backhaul network solutions, has announced the addition of Steve McKenna to the senior management team as general counsel. McKenna’s appointment is one of a series of executive appointments that Cambium Networks has made this year to further the company’s evolution and bolster increased demand for its products worldwide.

McKenna brings to Cambium Networks a deep understanding of international law and significant experience in intellectual property, commercial disputes, technology development, insurance and general business matters. Prior to joining the company, he was vice president and general counsel of Telmar Network Technology, a telecomms company with operations in the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa. In that role, McKenna successfully built the company’s legal department while also managing all legal matters in the US and across 20 countries. He was also a member of Telmar’s leadership team and sat on the boards of its Indonesian and Malaysian subsidiaries.

WWE has appointed Laura Brevetti as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, reporting directly to WWE chairman and chief executive officer Vince McMahon. Brevetti brings extensive legal and management experience to WWE and will be a key member of the senior executive team.

As general counsel, Brevetti will be responsible for overseeing the legal and business affairs of the company and serving as the principal legal adviser to the chairman, CFO and management team. She will also serve as corporate secretary to WWE’s board of directors.

Brevetti is a highly accomplished attorney with 30 years of experience in federal and local government, as well as private practice. A noted trial attorney, she has tried cases and arbitrations in both the state and federal systems, holding positions that include attorney-in-charge and special attorney for the Department of Justice and assistant district attorney for Kings County, New York. Most recently, Brevetti was in private practice with K&L Gates.

Brevetti is often quoted in the media, commenting on current legal issues and events, and is frequently sought to participate in bar and industry seminars. She has authored numerous legal articles and has served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Fordham Law School and New York Law School.

Health solutions firm Innovus Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has added Randy Berholtz as its acting corporate secretary and legal consultant. Berholtz most recently worked as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Apricus Biosciences. He has served in many leadership roles with various life science companies, including ACON Laboratories, IngleWood Ventures and Nanogen.

Michael Finn has joined Axalta Coating Systems, a global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, as senior vice president and general counsel. Finn brings broad expertise to the company’s global law department. He will assume responsibility for all legal functions including corporate legal matters, litigation, intellectual property, compliance, privacy and ethics. He will also support Axalta’s board of directors.

Prior to joining Axalta, Finn held a number of increasingly senior roles at General Dynamics. From 2009 until joining Axalta, he was vice president and general counsel for the advanced information systems division of General Dynamics. There he oversaw a team of attorneys and contract, subcontract and export compliance professionals. He also served twice at General Dynamics headquarters, most recently as assistant general counsel and initially as senior counsel. Between those roles he spent three years as vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and director of ethics and export compliance at General Dynamics UK in London, England.

Earlier in his career Finn held a number of legal positions, including vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary at software provider Sideware, associate general counsel at telecommunications provider Teligent, associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and appellate litigation attorney with the Office of the General Counsel, Federal Communications Commission.

Comcast has promoted Lynn Charytan to the post of senior vice president of legal regulatory affairs and senior deputy general counsel.

As head of the legal regulatory group, Charytan is responsible for providing corporate-wide legal advice on regulatory matters and overseeing the communications company’s legal regulatory advocacy, including filings in federal and state regulatory proceedings and related litigation and appeals. She also oversees compliance with regulatory requirements related to the NBCUniversal transaction and other significant matters. 

Prior to joining Comcast in November 2010, Charytan was a partner at WilmerHale, where she served as the chair of the communications, privacy and internet law practice group. During her more than 17 years with the firm, she advised clients on telecommunications, privacy and internet law matters. Before joining WilmerHale, Charytan worked for two years as in-house counsel to the Washington Post.

InterMune, a biotechnology company focused on the research, development and commercialization of innovative therapies in pulmonology and orphan fibrotic diseases, has appointed Andrew Powell as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. He will be responsible for managing the company’s legal affairs and will report to chairman, CEO and president Dan Welch. 

Powell’s experience spans two decades of leadership in the life sciences, most recently as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Cornerstone Therapeutics. Powell has practiced law for more than 25 years, principally in healthcare and biotechnology. He held positions of increasing responsibility for more than 15 years at the multinational healthcare company Baxter, where he led the global law practice at Baxter Bioscience and was instrumental in a series of transactions that established Baxter throughout Asia. Subsequently, he was part of the senior team that repositioned CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals as a leader in dermatology. He then served as senior vice president and general counsel at ImClone Systems.