Eaton hires successor to retiring CLO

Eaton Corporation has hired Lucy Clark Dougherty as general counsel, effective January 27. Dougherty will then succeed Taras Szmagala Jr as executive vice president and chief legal officer (CLO) when he retires on April 4, 2025.

Dougherty will report to Paulo Ruiz, president and COO of Eaton. She is joining Eaton having most recently been senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Polaris. In this role, she has led the company’s global legal, government relations, trade and product compliance organization.

Before her time at Polaris, Dougherty held senior legal positions at General Motors, most recently deputy general counsel for global markets, autonomous vehicles and transportation as a service.

According to her LinkedIn profile, before moving in-house she was the first CLO of the US Department of Homeland Security and counselor to the secretary of Homeland Security. Before holding other government jobs she was an attorney with Latham & Watkins.

Szmagala joined Eaton in 2007 as chief counsel for its fluid power group. In 2009 he became vice president and chief counsel of the company’s industrial sector and later senior vice president, deputy general counsel for Eaton. In 2015, he became senior vice president for public and community affairs and corporate communications. Szmagala took on his present role in 2022.

Craig Arnold, chair and CEO of Eaton, says in a statement: ‘Over his nearly 18 years with Eaton, Terry has distinguished himself as a results-focused and community-minded leader. [He] has built and led a strong legal team that brings deep expertise and value to our businesses while demonstrating an exceptional commitment to improving the communities where we operate. I thank him for his service to our company and wish him well in retirement.’