UK engineering giant Rolls-Royce has lined up Maria Varsellona as its next chief legal officer, replacing Mark Gregory, who is departing next month.
Varsellona, who announced the move on LinkedIn, is joining from Unilever where she is also CLO. She will join Rolls-Royce as its top lawyer on 1 March.
She said: “After four wonderful years at Unilever, I have decided to step down as chief legal officer at the end of February. It has been a true privilege to support Unilever’s transformation and to work alongside such exceptional colleagues. I am proud of what we have achieved together within the legal team. Thank you all for an extraordinary journey. I will carry deep appreciation for our time together.”
Varsellona has been at Unilever for just under four years, having previously been general counsel at engineering giant ABB in Switzerland. Prior to that, she spent more than six years at Nokia, latterly as president of Nokia Technologies in addition to her CLO role.
Earlier in her career, she had GC roles at packaging businesses Tetra Pak and Sidel, as well senior counsel roles at GE Oil & Gas and Hertz.
On her move to Rolls-Royce, she added: “It is an iconic company with a remarkable record of excellence, and I look forward to this next chapter and to collaborating with my new colleagues.”
Gregory, meanwhile, also announced his departure on LinkedIn, drawing to a close a more than 20-year career at the jet-engine maker, including more than a decade as GC. He originally joined Rolls Royce’s financing arm in 2005 as legal counsel after six years at Hogan Lovells.
He said: “I’ve had the privilege of serving as [Rolls-Royce’s] general counsel for over 10 years, working alongside some incredible people, and helping to navigate through some pretty complex and challenging times. For the last three years I’ve been part of Tufan Erginbilgic’s executive team as we’ve been delivering our transformation programme and focusing on our strategic priorities.”
Gregory will remain on until the end of March to support the transition.
In December, Unilever spun off its Magnum ice cream business into a standalone company that will trade on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges. It came amid a legal spat between Unilever and its ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s related to accusations that Unilever was trying to silence Ben & Jerry’s social mission and political activism.
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