Volvo Construction Equipment has appointed Nina Aresund to senior vice president and general counsel to provide legal support in group-wide and parent company matters. Ms Aresund will report to company president Melker Jernberg and be a member of the Volvo CE executive management team. She replaces longstanding senior vice president legal Edvard Carleson, who is due to retire at the end of 2019. Ms Aresund joins Volvo CE having spent the last 12 years working for Volvo at group level, firstly as corporate legal counsel, and then since 2014 as senior vice president, head of legal counsel.

Reliant Funding, a small business finance provider, has announced Gianna Ravenscroft is hired as the company's general counsel. Ms Ravenscroft comes to Reliant Funding with more than 15 years' experience practicing exclusively in the areas of banking and finance law. In her new role, she serves as a strategic partner to Reliant Funding's executive team and is responsible for providing effective advice on company strategies and implementation, managing the legal and compliance functions, and overseeing relationships with outside counsel. Prior to Reliant Funding, Ms Ravenscroft served as associate general counsel at Axos Bank, formerly BofI Federal Bank.

Anchin, an accounting, tax and advisory firm based in New York City, has appointed Nancy D Lieberman as the firm's general counsel. Ms Lieberman will assist the firm with a variety of business and legal matters. She has practiced corporate and securities law for over 25 years, and joins Anchin from a national accounting firm, where she held the position of deputy general counsel. A graduate of New York University School of Law, during her time at NYU she was an editor on the Journal of International Law and Politics.

Kraft Heinz, the global food giant formed last year out of the merger of Kraft Foods and Heinz, has looked to its consumer goods group Kimberly-Clark for their new emea general counsel. The company has hired in-house veteran Thomas Loest as its new general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mr Loest ,who is based in London, was chief counsel for EMEA at Kimberly-Clark since 2014. He’s previously been managing counsel for EMEA at Nike and spent time as a Brussels-based partner of German firm Gleiss Lutz, and an associate at Hogan Lovells.

Former Baker McKenzie partner Jozsef Antal has become the chief legal counsel at Hungarian spare auto parts trading company Unix Auto. Mr Antal joined Baker McKenzie Budapest in 1999, after graduating from the Jozsef Attila University of Sciences Faculty of Law, in Szeged, Hungary. At Baker McKenzie he primarily advised clients on litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and public procurement matters. He was made partner and head of Dispute Resolution at the firm from 2007 to 2019. After 20 years as an external counsel, Mr Antl said it was time to broaden his experience go in-house.

Franklin Financial Network, the parent company of Franklin Synergy Bank, is to get its first general counsel. Steve Groom is joining the Tennessee bank from private practice. According to the bank, chief legal counsel Julian Bibb oversaw the process of recruiting Mr Groom and will remain at the company as senior vice president and deputy counsel. Mr Groom most recently worked at Nashville, Tennessee law firm Neal & Harwell. In addition to time in private practice, he has spent more than 27 years in executive and general counsel roles at large public companies.

Jose Ramon Gonzalez is joining insurance company CNA as executive vice president and general counsel, reporting to CEO and chair Dino Robusto. In his new role, Mr Gonzalez heads up the company’s law department with responsibility for legal affairs, compliance, regulatory and government affairs, securities and litigation and legal consultation to CNA’s business operations. He succeeds Scott Weber, who has left CNA to pursue opportunities to be closer to his family, according to a company statement. Mr Weber was promoted to become executive vice president and general counsel in 2017. Mr Gonzalez joined CNA from specialist insurer QBE North America, where he was chief legal officer.