CF Industries general counsel to retire

Douglas Barnard, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of NYSE-listed CF Industries Holdings, has announced that he will retire from the company on January 12, 2024.

In the meantime, he becomes executive vice president for corporate development and legal adviser, reporting to president and CEO Tony Will. His primary responsibility over the coming months will be obtaining Federal Trade Commission clearance for the recently announced acquisition of Incitec Pivot’s Waggaman, Louisiana ammonia facility, helping with other strategic initiatives and business development support.

In response to that move, CF Industries has promoted Michael McGrane from vice president, chief compliance officer and assistant secretary to vice president, general counsel and secretary as Barnard’s successor, effective July 7. McGrane reports to Susan Menzel, who has been promoted to executive vice president and chief administrative officer (CAO).

She had previously been senior vice president for human resources at the company since 2017. As CAO, she adds oversight of the legal function to her existing responsibilities for human resources and information technology.

Barnard joined CF Industries as general counsel in January 2004. Before that he was executive vice president and general counsel of Bcom3 Group. Earlier in his career he was a partner with law firm Kirkland & Ellis and vice president, general counsel and secretary of LifeStyle Furnishings International.

McGrane joined CF Industries in 2011 as associate general counsel and assistant secretary. He was previously an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where his practice concentrated on corporate governance, M&A, securities offerings, and general corporate and securities law matters.

Will says in a statement: ‘Doug has been an invaluable leader at CF Industries, providing expert legal advice and strategic business insight that has helped build our company into the global leader it is today. He has had a profound and lasting impact on [the company], including his work on our [IPO], guiding us through transformational acquisitions and building a world-class legal and compliance function. I want to thank Doug for his extraordinary leadership and partnership and congratulate him on a wonderful career.

‘Mike’s selection as vice president, general counsel and secretary is a great example of our internal succession planning process. He has not only been a trusted legal adviser throughout his time at CF Industries, but has also demonstrated outstanding leadership across a range of our business initiatives… Sue’s leadership has been instrumental in CF Industries’ growth… helping strengthen our culture, improving and maturing our talent management process and modernizing our information technology infrastructure.’