NYSE-listed Aspen Aerogels has hired Virginia Johnson as chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary. She reports to Don Young, Aspen’s president and CEO.
Johnson was previously general counsel at Schneider Electric North America. Before that she spent around eight years with Global Atlantic Financial Group, formerly known as Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group, in a number of roles, most recently as senior vice president, head of corporate legal, associate general counsel and corporate secretary.
In that position she was responsible for corporate governance and regulatory compliance; enterprise-wide commercial contracting and licensing; M&A, transactional work and business integration; intellectual property; legal oversight of cyber-security, incident response, data privacy/protection and third-party risk; litigation management; and employment law, HR support and executive compensation.
Before joining Global Atlantic, Johnson was a partner in the litigation department of law firm Prince Lobel Tye. Her practice focused on defending investment firms, private equity funds and institutional lenders in commercial litigation and class actions in federal and state courts.
From 2002 to 2011, she was an associate in the litigation/regulatory department and securities/corporate governance group in the New York and Boston offices of Weil Gotshal & Manges. Her practice focused on corporate governance, securities class action defense, shareholder derivative litigation, regulatory enforcement and internal investigations.
Young says in a statement: ‘Ginny joins our management team at an important stage in the company’s development, and we are very pleased to have attracted a professional of her caliber as our general counsel. She is joining an outstanding group of lawyers at Aspen. She is a smart, articulate and creative leader, and her depth of experience in corporate strategy and legal operations makes her an ideal addition to Aspen’s executive team.
‘Her strong commitment to sustainability and diversity is solidly aligned with Aspen’s priorities. I look forward to her counsel and insight, which I am confident will benefit Aspen and its shareholders.’
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...
