Virgin Galactic, Preparing for Liftoff, Appoints New Top Lawyer

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., a business spaceflight organization backed by billionaire Richard Branson, has named Sarah Kim its chief legal officer and company secretary.

Kim, who has been typical counsel for the freshly-merged Topgolf Callaway Models Inc., will take on those roles as of Dec. 5, Virgin Galactic declared this 7 days. She succeeds previous authorized main Michelle Kley, who left Virgin Galactic in July.

“As somebody who has a lifelong desire in the sciences and area, I are unable to wait to assist participate in a part in the long term of this transformative and quickly expanding field,” Kim claimed in a assertion.

The spaceflight sector, whose key player together with Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC and Elon Musk’s Area Exploration Systems Corp., has been choosing in-household attorneys to deal with lawful and regulatory worries.

Tustin, Calif.-based Virgin Galactic stated earlier this thirty day period that it expects to start out industrial spaceflights by the next quarter of 2023acquiring earlier delayed exams and a program to have its founder Branson into orbit.

Branson eventually blasted off in July 2021 but the firm’s share selling price fell next its most recent flight postponement in August.

Virgin Galactic faces shareholder litigation above a merger with a particular reason acquisition business that took it community three years ago. About a quarter of Branson’s estimated $5.2 billion fortune is invested in businesses that went public using these cars, according to Bloomberg Information.

Topgolf Callaway, exactly where Kim worked in advance of joining Virgin Galactic, was shaped final calendar year after predecessor Callaway Golf Co. agreed to pay back $2 billion to get the rest of what it failed to presently personal in Topgolf Global Inc.

Brian Lynch, Topgolf Callaway’s main economic officer and a former general counsel at Callaway Golfing, also now serves as the combined firm’s main legal officer, in accordance to its govt administration webpages.

A securities submitting by Callaway Golfing before this yr disclosed that Lynch received a $4 million bonuses for his function serving to the Carlsbad, Calif.-based corporation total its acquire of Topgolf. Callaway Golf place Lynch’s complete payment at approximately $8.4 million through fiscal 2021, in accordance to a proxy statement.

Topgolf’s former top attorney left the corporation ahead of that offer in mid-2020.

Callaway Golf employed Kim in 2019 right after she expended two several years at what is now Petco Overall health and Wellness Co. The former DLA Piper associate was also Callaway Golf’s main ethics and compliance officer and corporate secretary.

Topgolf Callaway and Lynch failed to answer to requests for comment.