General Counsel, Senior Manager And Corporate Privacy Officer
Markham, Ontario Canada
I managed the Corporate Compliance Division for Honda. Our group was responsible for legal services, risk management, insurance, audit and government relations for Honda Canada, Honda Financial Services and Honda Canada Foundation. I was an officer of both Honda Canada and Honda Canada Foundation. From 2007 until 2013, I was also a director of the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan, a private consumer dispute arbitration program funded by the automotive industry. The mandate of the program is to resolve disputes between manufacturers and consumers regarding new vehicle quality and product warranties.I transformed the Honda Legal Department from an unsophisticated function of one lawyer and a secretary into a high performing legal group of four lawyers, three law clerks and one legal assistant. My legal team furnished bilingual legal services to Honda in all facets of law relating to the marketing, sale, finance and lease of Honda and Acura motor vehicles and multi-products across Canada. We significantly reduced the outside counsel fees paid by Honda, while improving the quality, relevance and speed of our services. My legal experience was focused on corporate law, corporate secretarial work, corporate governance, privacy law, commercial law, dealer relations, competition and advertising law, intellectual property law, information technology law, employment law and product liability and litigation management. Some important accomplishments were the successful management of numerous complex dealer terminations while rationalizing the dealer network and the development of a class action avoidance strategy saving the company millions of dollars. In the compliance area, I established a credible audit function which added value to the business. I also developed impactful plain language, corporate policies and training effecting a significant upgrade in the level of compliance and corporate governance at Honda.