First up, the US-based National Futures Association has selected Carol Wooding to succeed Thomas Sexton as the organisation’s vice president, general counsel and secretary. The NFA is the self-regulatory organization for the US derivatives industry, including on-exchange traded futures, retail off-exchange foreign currency and OTC derivatives. Ms Wooding began her career at NFA in 1991 as a staff attorney, was promoted to assistant general counsel in 1998 and was most recently elevated from the role of associate general counsel, which she took in 2010.

Meanwhile, seasoned corporate legal advisor Kristi Moody has been appointed as the new general counsel of Little Rock-based Windstream Holdings. Ms Moody has been with Windstream since 2006 when she first joined as a senior litigation, before being promoted to vice president of law in 2012 and to deputy general counsel in 2013. Before moving in-house, Ms Moody enjoyed an 11-year career in private practice with Little Rock firm Wright Lindsey & Jennings.

Jones Lang LaSalle has hired announced the impending hire of a first head of legal for its specialist office, hotel and retail fit-outs business Tétris Design. Tétris has around 500 staff servicing projects in 15 different countries, with annual revenue around €500m. A statement from the company said: ‘The growth of Tétris combined with the fact that the industry we operate in is regulated means that a pan-EMEA legal resource is now justified. Legal services will continue to be provided by our existing country lawyers (and external advisers) but coordinated and facilitated by this new central expert resource.’

Commercial stage ENT biopharmaceutical company OptiNose has appointed Michael Marino as its new chief legal office and corporate secretary to its board of directors. Mr Marino brings extensive experience advising companies in the life sciences space, having previously served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of cell and gene therapy company Fibrocell Science and in the same role and publicly-held specialty pharmaceuticals group NuPathe Inc. His career in-house was preceded by stints in the Philadelphia office of law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and the Boston office of WilmerHale.

Finally, the University of Cincinnati has announced the appointment of Lori Ross as the school’s new vice president for legal affairs and general counsel. A graduate of UC’s own College of Law, Ms Ross first joined the office of the university’s general counsel in 2012 and most recently served and interim deputy general counsel. Earlier in her career she was an equity partner at Strauss Troy, and currently teaches employment law as an adjunct professor at UC.