HSBC North America general counsel Stuart Alderoty has left to become the new GC at financing and leasing service provider CIT Group. Mr Alderoty is leaving HSBC after six years at the legal helm of its North America division, having previously served as managing counsel at American Express. He will be replacing former CIT general counsel Robert Ingato, who joined the company in 1999. A statement from CIT has not confirmed Mr Alderoty’s start date at the company, saying only that his tenure would begin after ‘he completed his garden leave from HSBC.’

Meanwhile, BNSF Railway Corp general counsel Charles Shewmake is leaving his position to enter private practice. Mr Shewmake will be joining the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight as a partner in the firm’s trial practice group. Mr Shewmake, who has been with BNSF since 1988 and has served as GC for the last eight years, made the decision to move into private practice to pursue ‘new challenges.’ He will continue to do some work for BNSF as a Thompson & Knight partner.

Also moving back into private practice is former US Department of Homeland Security deputy general counsel Jonathan Meyer. Mr Meyer is joining the Washington DC office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton as a partner in the firm’s Government Contracts, Investigations and International Trade practice group. He will also be a member of the firm’s Privacy & Cybersecurity team. Mr Meyer supervised hundreds of attorneys in his six-year run as deputy GC of the Department of Homeland Security, as was the Department’s point man on Congressional investigations, internal investigations and sensitive litigation.

Israeli end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect solutions group Mellanox Technologies has appointed Alinka Flaminia as its new senior vice president and general counsel. Ms Flaminia joins Mellanox after a nine-year stint at PMC-Sierra, where she was vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Additionally, Mellanox’s vice president of legal affairs Gideon Rosenberg has been promoted to the role of deputy general counsel and VP of legal affairs. Mr Rosenberg has been in-house at Mellanox since 2010 and was appointed to the VP post in 2013.

Finally, Australian finance, insurance and banking group Suncorp has confirmed acting chief risk and legal office Fiona Thompson to the role of chief risk officer, while appointing Kate Olgers to the newly separated role of chief legal office. Ms Olgers joins Suncorp from Commonwealth Bank, where she has been serving as Executive General Manager, Legal of the bank’s wealth management and technology divisions. Previously, she worked as general counsel for fellow Australian bank NAB’s banking, products and markets divisions. Both lawyers will start in their new roles from 17 October.