Around the house

Insurance company Willis Group Holdings has hired Matthew Furman as group general counsel from The Travelers Companies. He will oversee the Group's legal, compliance, risk, corporate secretary and audit functions worldwide. Mr Furman will report to CEO Dominic Casserley.  He spent seven years at The Travelers Companies, most recently as senior vice president, group general counsel (corporate and governance) and as corporate secretary. Between 2000 and 2007, he served as vice president and associate general counsel in the finance and corporate legal division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr Furman trained at New York law firm Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett.

Advertising management software WideOrbit has hired Robert Tesler as General Counsel. Mr Tesler joins the company from Aruba Networks where he was Vice President of Legal and Strategic Business Partnerships. He recently worked on Aruba's proposed sale to Hewlett-Packard Company. Mr Tesler previously worked as Of Counsel with Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and as a litigator with New York firm Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings  has appointed a lawyer to its board. Kevin Jones is one of three new appointments to the board of the company which operates 21 ships globally. He is the general counsel, corporate secretary and senior vice president of corporate development and strategy for Genting Americas, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Genting Malaysia Berhad. Mr. Jones oversees all legal, corporate compliance, risk management and strategic corporate development matters for the North American operations of Genting Malaysia Berhad. He previously worked in private practice at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

NioCorp Developments has hired John Ashburn as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Most recently, he was vice president, chief legal officer and a member of the board of Simbol, a privately held development-stage lithium producer. NioCorp produces Niobium which is used in the production of stronger steel and has been identified as one of five 'most critical' metals by the United States national Research Council. Prior to this, Mr Ashburn was executive VP and general counsel for Molycorp. He also worked at  Chevron and Unocal.

Energy storage solution company NEC Energy Solutions has appointed Deborah Collum as general counsel. Ms Collum joins from Ameresco and will assist in developing both short- and long-term tactics to bring innovative energy storage solutions to the market. 'The energy industry is changing quickly and the legal and regulatory barriers to innovation can be daunting. NEC Energy Solutions welcomes Deborah to our team, an addition which will not only streamline our ability to provide turnkey energy storage systems but also to provide effective solutions and services from those resources to our customers. Her combination of skills will help us move our business forward to better meet emerging and future demands within the energy industry,' said Bud Collins, CEO, NEC Energy Solutions.