NYSE-listed Unisys Corporation has hired Claudius Sokenu as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective May 2. In his new role, Sokenu will head up Unisys’ global legal, corporate secretary and ethics & compliance functions and will report to chair and CEO Peter Altabef.
Sokenu is joining Unisys from Cognizant where he has been senior vice president, global deputy general counsel and chief of staff to the general counsel. Before joining Cognizant, he was deputy general counsel, global head of ethics & compliance and global head of litigation & investigations at energy company Andeavor.
Earlier in his career he was a partner with three major law firms: Shearman & Sterling, Arnold & Porter and Mayer Brown. Before that he served in the honors program at the SEC’s enforcement division, first as a staff attorney and later as senior counsel. He is a fellow with the American College of Governance Counsel.
Sokenu will succeed Gerry Kenney, who is retiring from Unisys on April 30. Kenney joined the company in October 2013 as general counsel and secretary and the board elected him a senior vice president in November 2013.
Before working at Unisys, Kenney was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at NEC Corporation of America. Previously he was general counsel at NEC Technologies and NEC America, subsidiaries of NEC USA, as well as at CCC Information Services, a publicly traded software and services company.
Altabef says in a statement: ‘Claudius brings significant in-house, private practice and government legal experience to Unisys. Beyond his legal experience, he possesses both the personal skills and gravitas that have been hallmarks of our general counsel, and I am excited to welcome him to the company.
‘I would also like to thank Gerry for his many years of exceptional service to Unisys. Gerry has been masterful at forging and maintaining a strong sense of partnership with our businesses and leaders. I will miss both his wise counsel and good humor.’
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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...
