Prudential’s general counsel to retire

Tim Harris, executive vice president and general counsel at Prudential Financial, has decided to retire after more than three decades at the company.

Ann Kappler, senior vice president, deputy general counsel and head of external affairs, will take on the role of executive vice president and general counsel from September 1. She will report to Prudential chair and CEO Charles Lowrey and will join the company’s executive leadership team. Harris will stay on at Prudential through the first quarter of 2021 as part of the transition.

Kappler joined Prudential in 2009 as a chief legal officer (CLO) then moved to positions of increasing responsibility. Before working at the company, she held a number of roles including general counsel at Fannie Mae, partner at WilmerHale, partner at Jenner & Block and law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.

Harris became Prudential’s executive vice president and general counsel in October 2015. He had been appointed deputy general counsel of the company in 2008, serving as CLO for Prudential’s US businesses. His role expanded to include being COO of law, compliance and business ethics in 2014. Harris was chief investment counsel for Prudential from 2005 until 2008, and earlier was the CLO of Prudential Annuities, among other roles during his time with the company.

Before joining Prudential, he was an attorney with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.

‘On behalf of the entire leadership team, we’d like to thank Tim for his meaningful contributions to Prudential and congratulate Ann on her new role,’ Lowrey says in a statement. ‘This smooth transition is a testament to the deep bench of talent and culture of internal mobility that was cultivated under Tim’s leadership.’