Aviation business Bristow Group has appointed Anne Rappold as chief legal officer, having served as acting CLO following the departure of previous legal head Elizabeth Matthews in August last year.
Rappold joined the company in 2023 as deputy GC, Americas and global risk management. As permanent CLO, she will oversee the company’s legal, compliance and government affairs activities, as well as supporting the executive leadership team on strategic matters.
Houston-based Bristow Group provides helicopter transportation to the offshore energy industry and search and rescue, as well as other aircraft support services.
Chris Bradshaw, president and CEO of Bristow Group, said: “Anne has done an exceptional job guiding our legal and government affairs organisation in support of Bristow’s global operations. We are pleased to formally appoint her as chief legal officer.”
Before joining Bristow Group, Rappold was vice president for government affairs, risk and compliance at US liquefied natural gas exporter Freeport LNG, where she worked for 15 years.
Prior to that she worked in private practice at New Orleans-based firm Deutsch Kerrigan, where she started her legal career.
Matthews, meanwhile, left the company last August after just under three years. Prior to that she spent almost a decade at Total, including nearly five years as GC of TotalEnergies US. She also previously worked at Chevron for more than a decade across a range of legal roles, including as senior counsel for global drilling and completions and senior counsel of its labour and employment law practice group.
She previously worked in private practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Dickstein Shapiro.
Upon joining Bristow Group back in 2022, Bradshaw said Matthews’ strong capabilities, legal prowess and extensive experience across the global energy sector would help the business “navigate both traditional and emerging opportunities”.
In other recent aviation-related moves, earlier this month Unilever CLO Maria Varsellona said she was joining jet engine-maker Rolls-Royce as its top lawyer at the start of March, replacing Mark Gregory who is exiting after more than a decade as GC.
Last April, American Airlines hired Latham & Watkins partner Anthony Richmond as CLO, replacing Priya Aiyar who quit earlier that year.
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