Shire Plc has announced the appointment of Bill Mordan as general counsel and corporate secretary, reporting to CEO Flemming Ornskov. He will also serve as a member of the Shire Executive Committee. He joins Shire from Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, where he served as group general counsel and corporate secretary. Mr Mordan joined Reckitt Benckiser in 2003 as area vice president, North America. From 1997 to 2003, he worked for Procter & Gamble, holding diverse legal positons in Brazil, Mexico and the company’s corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.

John Finston has been named general counsel for the California Department of Insurance. Mr Finston, who has served as deputy commissioner for corporate and regulatory affairs for three years, will take over from outgoing GC Adam Cole. Mr Finston has practised regulatory law for 35 years and serves on the Conservation and Liquidation Office Governance Committee and as a board member of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. Prior to joining CDI, he was a partner in two insurance law firms for over 25 years; during that time his practice emphasised insurance regulation, reinsurance, corporate transactions and insurance company insolvency matters. He will begin his new assignment on 6 July . 

Jonathan Graham has been appointed senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Amgen, a human therapeutics developer and manufacturer. He will succeed David Scott, who is retiring at the end of August. Graham previously served as senior vice president and general counsel at Danaher Corp, where he was responsible for all legal, governance, regulatory, risk, and compliance matters. He was formerly vice president, litigation and legal policy, at General Electric and a partner at Williams & Connolly. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Joseph Sneed in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

American retail company Big Lots has named Ronald ‘Rocky’ Robins, Jr as general counsel and corporate secretary. He will also be a member of the executive leadership team and will report directly to CEO and president David Campisi. Prior to Big Lots, Robins was a partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. He has also served as GC, chief compliance officer, and secretary of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Otonomy, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has named Eric Loumeau as general counsel and chief compliance officer. Before Otonomy, Loumeau was vice president of legal affairs at The Medicines Company, joining it after its acquisition of Rempex Pharmaceuticals. At Rempex, he had served as vice president, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer, and was involved in completing several asset acquisitions and financings. Previously, Loumeau served as general counsel and chief compliance officer for Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals. His experience as outside corporate counsel at national law firms includes roles as a partner at Bass, Berry & Sims and Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, and as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.