PepsiCo has promoted Dave Yawman as executive vice president, government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective immediately. 'Dave is one of our most trusted and respected leaders,' chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi said. 'He has a brilliant legal mind, outstanding judgment, and a wealth of experience gained over two decades at PepsiCo, spanning positions across our businesses and former bottling group. All of us at PepsiCo are fortunate to have him in this absolutely critical role.'  Mr Yawman previously served as general counsel of North America Beverages, Quaker Foods North America and Latin America Beverages. He spent five years in the law department of the Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) where, as associate general counsel, he oversaw all corporate, securities and M&A matters. Prior to joining PBG in 2005, Mr Yawman spent six years as a member of PepsiCo's corporate law department. Before joining PepsiCo in 1998, Mr Yawman was an associate with the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

Swedish biopharmaceutical company Sobi has appointed Torbjörn Hallberg as general counsel.  He joins the company from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he served vice president and general counsel of emerging markets. Mr Hallberg spent more than 15 years in in-house counsel roles within the pharmaceutical industry and has  extensive experience in licensing and mergers and acquisitions. He will join Sobi in January 2018.  

Global technology comany RigNet has appointed Brad Eastman as general counsel. He will report to RigNet’s CEO and president, Steven Pickett. Mr Eastman succeeds William Sutton, who retired in June after more than nine years of service with RigNet. Most recently, Mr Eastman served as general counsel of the Cameron Group of Schlumberger Limited following Schlumberger’s acquisition of Cameron International in 2016. Prior to the acquisition, Mr Eastman acted as deputy general counsel of Cameron International. Before his role at Cameron, Mr. Eastman held the positions of general counsel and corporate secretary of Input/Output, and vice president, secretary and general counsel of  Quanta Services in Houston, Texas. He worked for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City as an associate in the firm’s corporate group and later joined the law firm of Brobeck, Phelger & Harrison in Austin, Texas.

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has hired Eric Dinallo as executive vice president and general counsel. He replaces Tracy Rich, who served as Guardian’s executive vice president and general counsel since 2009 and is retiring. Mr Dinallo joins from Debevoise & Plimpton, where he was a partner at the New York office and a member of the firm’s financial institutions group. He is also an adjunct professor of business ethics at New York University’s Stern School of Business.