Siemens’ longstanding UK general counsel and company secretary Claire Carless has left her role to head up the legal division at mental health charity St Andrew’s.
Featured in the 2016 GC Power List, Carless (pictured) joined Siemens 2012 from Vodafone where she served as legal director. She succeeded Gerard Gent who retired after 16 years running the company’s legal function.
She was replaced internally by Simone Davina, who had served as general counsel and company secretary for Siemens in the Netherlands since 2012.
Stephenson Harwood-trained Carless has since managed a 70-strong in-house team at Siemens, and had to cope with significant structural change to her team as part of a wider business strategy. Her legal team was aligned to Siemens’ four business sectors of energy, healthcare, industry, and infrastructure, it was further broken down into nine divisions.
She also gained experience managing corporate and commercial projects, and was part of the team overseeing Siemens’ £160m investment in wind turbine production and installation facilities in Yorkshire, as well as an additional £160m in Green Port Hull.
This year Carless also carried out a review of Siemens UK legal panel with Eversheds and Osborne Clarke winning spots while Reed Smith lost out. Siemens is yet to announce Carless’s replacement.
Carless has some experience in the healthcare sector, having spent four years as a non-executive director for South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
St Andrew’s chief executive Gil Baldwin said Carless is an important addition to the team,’ and will ‘play a vital role in shaping our progress towards becoming a world class mental healthcare provider. Her corporate experience is a real asset to the charity.’
Yesterday (24 October) Legal Business revealed BP’s group general counsel Rupert Bondy, one of the most well-known in-house leaders in the community, will join Reckitt Benckiser in January 2017.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
