Bank of America reveals general counsel succession plan

Lauren Mogensen will become global general counsel for Bank of America at the end of the year, succeeding David Leitch, who is retiring in 2022.

Mogensen will take up the global general counsel role after being global compliance and operational risk executive for the bank. In that role she is responsible for overseeing the strategy and governance of Bank of America’s compliance and operational risk programs, and also enterprise-wide compliance and operational risk policies, standards and program execution.

She is further charged with maintaining relationships with key regulators and supervisory institutions globally, as well as with the company’s senior leadership team, governance committees and the board of directors.

Mogensen has been with Bank of America for two decades and became global compliance executive in 2013. She had previously worked in the bank’s legal department since 2009 and had been deputy general counsel and legal executive for several areas of the company, including the office of the corporate secretary, global human resources, global marketing and corporate affairs, chief financial officer group and corporate strategy and development. Before that she was legal executive for global commercial banking and global technology and operations.

Her other previous roles at Bank of America include being the chief risk and compliance officer for global wealth and investment management (GWIM) and CFO of GWIM, as well as being the unit’s compliance and risk management executive and deputy general counsel.

Mogensen joined FleetBoston Financial in 2001 as managing director for M&A and was named deputy general counsel in 2003. Bank of America completed its acquisition of FleetBoston in 2004. Before joining FleetBoston, Mogensen was an attorney with Edwards & Angell (now Locke Lorde), advising clients on corporate, securities and M&A matters.

Leitch, who is also vice chair of Bank of America, became global general counsel six years ago. He joined the bank from Ford Motor Company, where he was general counsel and group vice president from 2005 until 2015. Before that he was deputy counsel to former president George W Bush, chief counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration, deputy assistant attorney general in the US Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and a partner with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells).

Chair and CEO Brian Moynihan says in a note to employees: ‘Six years ago, I recruited David Leitch to be our global general counsel and he is an invaluable adviser to me, our management team and our board of directors. After decades of service in the private and public sectors, David is planning to retire in 2022.

‘Until that time, I have asked him to become vice chair, providing his expert stewardship on key issues and priorities on our management team. We will recognize David’s many contributions to our company and beyond as his transition nears.’