Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., a business spaceflight firm backed by billionaire Richard Branson, has named Sarah Kim its chief authorized officer and company secretary.
Kim, who has been common counsel for the newly-merged Topgolf Callaway Manufacturers Inc., will tackle these roles as of Dec. 5, Virgin Galactic introduced this week. She succeeds former authorized chief Michelle Kley, who left Virgin Galactic in July.
“As somebody who has a lifelong curiosity within the sciences and area, I can’t wait to assist play a task in the way forward for this transformative and quickly rising trade,” Kim mentioned in a statement.
The spaceflight trade, whose major players embody Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC and Elon Musk’s Area Exploration Applied sciences Corp., has been hiring in-house lawyers to deal with legal and regulatory challenges.
Tustin, Calif.-based Virgin Galactic mentioned earlier this month that it expects to start business spaceflights by the second quarter of 2023, having previously delayed exams and a plan to carry its founder Branson into orbit.
Branson finally blasted off in July 2021 however the firm’s share price fell following its most up-to-date flight postponement in August.
Virgin Galactic faces shareholder litigation over a merger with a particular function acquisition firm that took it public three years in the past. Roughly 1 / 4 of Branson’s estimated $5.2 billion fortune is invested in firms that went public utilizing such automobiles, according to Bloomberg News.
Topgolf Callaway, the place Kim labored earlier than becoming a member of Virgin Galactic, was shaped final yr after predecessor Callaway Golf Co. agreed to pay $2 billion to acquire the remainder of what it didn’t already personal in Topgolf Worldwide Inc.
Brian Lynch, Topgolf Callaway’s chief monetary officer and a former general counsel at Callaway Golf, additionally now serves because the mixed firm’s chief authorized officer, based on its govt administration webpage.
A securities submitting by Callaway Golf earlier this yr revealed that Lynch acquired a $4 million bonus for his work serving to the Carlsbad, Calif.-based firm full its buy of Topgolf. Callaway Golf put Lynch’s complete compensation at practically $8.4 million throughout fiscal 2021, according to a proxy statement.
Topgolf’s former high lawyer left the company forward of that deal in mid-2020.
Callaway Golf employed Kim in 2019 after she spent two years at what is now Petco Well being and Wellness Co. The previous DLA Piper affiliate was additionally Callaway Golf’s chief ethics and compliance officer and company secretary.
Topgolf Callaway and Lynch didn’t reply to requests for remark.
