Fast-growing specialty pharmaceutical company Egalet Corp. has announced Paul C. Varki as its first ever general counsel. Mr Varki joins the Philadelphia and Denmark-based Egalet after a twelve-year tenure in the in-house legal department of British pharma multinational GlaxoSmithKline. As the growing company's sole in-house lawyer, Mr Varki will report directly to Egalet president Bob Radia.
It has been announced that Olivier Niggli, current chief operating officer and general counsel for the World Anti-Doping Agency, has been picked as the successor to outgoing WADA director general David Howman. Mr Howman's 13-year tenure in the role is due to end in June, at which point Mr Niggli will take the helm. Considered an expert on legal, financial and governance matters, Mr Niggli spent ten years serving as WADA's chief financial officer and legal director before taking on the dual roles of chief operating officer and GC in 2011.
US-based diversified energy company MDU Resources Group has appointed Daniel S. Kuntz as the its new general counsel and secretary. Mr Kuntz has served as MDU associate general counsel and assistant secretary since 2004, and will assume his new role fromn 9 January. He will succeed outgoing GC Paul K. Sandness, who is retiring after 36 years with the company.
Finally, an internal memo seen by Reuters this week has confirmed that BG Group general counsel Tom Melbye Eide will be kept on as general counsel for upstream when a $70 billion takeover of the company by Royal Dutch Shell is completed next year. While Shell hopes to complete the lucrative merger by early 2016, the deal still requires regulatory approval from Australia and China before it can be brought to shareholders. The memo has been confirmed by both BG and Shell.
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