Matt Lepore was named General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of the German chemicals giant BASF earlier this year. He is the first American to serve as GC of the German company. Previously, he was global head of legal and also was head of BASF legal North America for four years. During his time running legal in North America, he reworked the division’s outside counsel agreement, helped navigate almost all outside counsel engagements to alternative fee arrangements, and in 2016 oversaw a legal spend decrease of 48%.

Before joining BASF, Lepore was corporate secretary and chief governance counsel with Pfizer, a partner at DLA Piper and a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.