Around the house

ITT Corporation has hired a new general counsel. Mary Beth Gustafsson joins the company from renewable energy company First Solar where she was general counsel and secretary as well as chief compliance officer.  She will report to ITT’s CEO Denise Ramos.  ITT manufactures components and technology solutions for the energy transportation and industrial markets.

3D company Faro Technologies has appointed Jody Gale as its senior vice president and general counsel. Mr Gale will also act as corporate secretary to the board. The company, which develops and markets computer-aided measuring and imaging devices and software,  recruited Mr Gale from leading medical device manufacturer Bionet. Before that, he was a corporate partner at US law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

Biopharmaceutical company AbbVie’s general counsel Laura Schumacher has joined the board of directors of defense company General Dynamics. Ms Schumacher is also executive vice president of business development and external affairs at AbbVie which split from Abbott in 2013. She spent 20 years at Abbott in a variety of positions . Prior to joining Abbott, she was employed by law firm Schiff Hardin & Waite.

Building group Travis Perkins has turned to the Lafarge Tarmac group to find its new general counsel. Deborah Grimason joins the company following the promotion of the former GC John Carter to the position of Chief Executive Officer. She previously worked for a range of companies including Royal Mail and Nokia in the legal department.
Deputy EMEA general counsel Anja Ijlsta  has been promoted by investment management company CBRE to the role of EMEA general counsel following the death of Fabrice Rcohu. Ms Ijstra will sit on the European management board for the company. Prior to CBRE, she worked for Benelux firm Loyens & Loeff.

An ex-professional Rugby Union lawyer is to head up the health club chain Fitness First in Australia. Tony Dempsey will head up the four strong legal department.  He currently runs a dispute resolution service WISDOMdr which he set up in 2010 and will retain ownership, handing over the day to day running to a team of mediators, reports Lawyers Weekly.