Armance Bordes has joined European venture capitalists Sofinnova Partners in Paris as General Counsel. Admitted to the Paris bar, Ms Bordes brings to Sofinnova, specialists in life sciences projects, ten years of experience in private equity. She joins a team headed by Monique Saulnier, managing partner and chief operating officer. Prior to joining Sofinnova Partners, Ms Bordes was deputy general counsel and secretary of the board of directors at Eurazeo and has supervised numerous investments and divestments in listed companies.

After only ten Months, Margo Smith is leaving Apttus for Snowflake Computing, replacing Barbara Walkowski in the chief legal officer role at the Californian cloud-based data warehousing company. Prior to Apttus, Ms Smith served four years as GC of Marketo Inc. and two years as GC of QuinStreet Inc. After two years in post, Ms Walkowski left the company earlier this year, but has not stated share her reason for leaving.

Data platform company Looker has appointed Tricia Timm as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, reporting to ceo Frank Bien and serving on Looker’s executive management team. Ms. Timm brings over 20 years of experience to Looker, having held general counsel roles at SugarCRM, software maker Borland, and, corporate counsel at Vantive Corporation. As a champion for gender and ethnic diversity in the workplace and building cultures of inclusion, she will also help drive the company’s diversity initiatives. Mr. Bien says: 'Her deep knowledge of growth software companies and understanding of global market dynamics will be instrumental as we continue to scale our business and expand operations internationally.'

Microsoft Corp has promoted deputy general counsel Dev Stahlkopf to the newly created position of general counsel and corporate vice president. She will lead the new legal affairs team within Microsoft’s corporate, external and legal affairs department in Redmond, Washington. The appointment revives a position that was left vacant about two years ago. Ms. Stahlkopf will focus on aligning the company’s legal teams and implementing new projects. She joined Microsoft in 2007 after working at law firm Perkins Coie in Seattle, and most recently the deputy general counsel in the company’s HR legal team, working on employee relations and immigration.

Control4 Corporation, a global provider of smart-home solutions, has promoted JD Ellis to the position of General Counsel. He succeeds Greg Bishop, who has decided to leave the company to pursue other endeavours. Mr Ellis joined Control4 in August of 2009 and brings years of in-house legal experience, representing and providing legal counsel to technology and emerging growth companies. He has advised companies on a wide range of legal matters including, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, intellectual property, financing and securities, and employment matters. 

Former Ellex Valiunas Senior Associate Donata Montvydaite has left the Lithuanian firm to become group general counsel at the Eastnine AB, a Swedish investment company founded in 2007 focusing on commercial real estate in the Baltic capitals. Ms Montvydaite began her career as a Junior Associate in 2013 with Ellex after graduating from Vilnius University. She says: 'I am honored to be appointed as GC for Eastnine to share my experience in real estate investment business from the legal side.'

New Forests, an Australian global timberland investment management business headquartered in Sydney, has appointed Margaret Cole as its new general counsel. Ms Cole will also join the company’s executive committee, with responsibilities for business strategy and management. The firm has created a new senior legal role to lead legal, governance, risk and compliance, and she says 'as a steadily growing investment management business, New Forests must navigate increasing regulatory complexities and diverse financial, legal and operating environments.'