Chief Compliance Officer Edward Hanover Leaves FIFA to Join DLA Piper in California
Hanover said he left the world's largest sports organization to be a partner in the firm's sports, media and entertainment law practice group. He added he and his wife were also ready to return to the U.S. after almost 10 years abroad.
August 22, 2019 at 05:54 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Corporate Counsel
Edward Hanover, who was FIFA's first chief compliance officer for the past three years, will become a partner at DLA Piper in Palo Alto on Sept. 3. He said he will focus on the sports, media and entertainment law practice.
In an interview with Corporate Counsel Thursday, Hanover said he left the Fédération Internationale de Football Association in Zurich, Switzerland, three weeks ago with mixed feelings. With 211 member associations from all over the globe, FIFA is the world's largest sports organization.
"Leaving was bittersweet, really," he said. "I would have liked to have spent one more year working with the member associations to help them further along, but this great opportunity opened up at DLA Piper for me to do what I was hoping to do with my career, and the timing was right for my family."
Hanover said he and his wife were ready to return to the U.S. after almost 10 years abroad, in time for their nearly 6-year-old son to start school here.
He regretted leaving FIFA on short notice, but said his superiors understood the importance of the opportunity to him. "I caught them a bit by surprise, but they were great about it and even toasted me when we were in France for the Women's World Cup."
He said one of his deputies, Vincent Denonville, has been named interim chief compliance officer while FIFA "considers how to organize the division in the future." FIFA did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Hanover praised his boss, Fatma Samoura, the first woman secretary general, who he said "wields significant influence on the world of football," and President Gianni Infantino, who instituted a policy of zero tolerance for wrongdoing. Both were appointed in early 2016 to clean up the rampant corruption in the organization, and they, in turn, hired Hanover in October 2016 to create the compliance division and implement policies. Their efforts helped persuade the U.S. Department of Justice to not criminally charge the organization when it charged past officers.
He said he accomplished 95% of what he wanted to do there. "I left FIFA in a good spot," he said. "Many of the major confederations have taken several steps forward. The next step would have been to help them become thought leaders in that space."
He said he believes "in sports, FIFA has the best compliance program in the world. Other industries may put more resources into theirs, but for sports FIFA is unquestionably the best."
Key issues that FIFA continues to grapple with include gender equity and adequate oversight for development funds. "FIFA recognizes the gender equity issue and is pushing heavily to advance the agenda in the right way," he said.
On development funds, Hanover said it's the same problem that plagues the U.S., the Red Cross and other entities that try to help developing countries. "When you are investing money in a country that has systemic political problems, how do you assure the money will be well spent. I worked three years on that issue, and it still requires a disproportionate amount of [the compliance department's] time."
At DLA he said he envisions working with sports organizations, big studios, corporations and universities, "helping them develop a best-in-class compliance program."
Besides FIFA, he said he has also helped two other organizations build compliance programs from scratch. "I've worked on every continent in the world," he said, "and I've seen most, if not all, of the things that can wrong. I can say, 'Here's what you need to focus on now.'"
Before joining FIFA, Hanover worked over a year in Singapore as head of compliance in emerging markets for Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Before Takeda, he spent over nine years with Novo Nordisk, first as a senior in-house counsel in Princeton, New Jersey, then as regional general counsel and senior director of legal, compliance and business development based in Zurich.
Previously he served as a law firm associate at Dechert and at Reed Smith, both in Philadelphia. Hanover received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where he said he will also serve as an adjunct professor this fall, teaching a weeklong course on modern compliance concepts.
"I have a unique experience base," Hanover explained. "It was unplanned in my career, but it has just turned out this way."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllOpenAI Tells Court It Will Seek to Consolidate Copyright Suits Under MDL
3 minute read'New Circumstances': Winston & Strawn Seek Expedited Relief in NASCAR Antitrust Lawsuit
3 minute read'It Refreshes Me': King & Spalding Privacy Leader Doubles as Equestrian Champ
5 minute readFederal Judge Rejects Teams' Challenge to NASCAR's 'Anticompetitive Terms' in Agreement
Trending Stories
- 1Federal Judge Rejects Firm's Counterclaims Against Former Legal Secretary, Citing Lack of Jurisdiction
- 2Mayor's Advisory Committee To Hold Hearing on Fitness of Judicial Candidates
- 3What We Learned From In-House Litigators in 2024
- 4‘Modern Family’: The Resurgence of Family Office Enterprises
- 5Baker & Hostetler to Open Austin Office With 10-Lawyer Locke Lord Affordable Housing Team
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250