Electric vehicle startup Lordstown taps Baker & Hostetler M&A leader as top lawyer

Lordstown’s logo is pictured on a smartphone in front of the stock graph displayed in this illustration taken, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) – Electric vehicle maker Lordstown Motors Corp said Tuesday that Melissa Leonard is joining the company from Baker & Hostetler, where she was a co-leader of the firm’s mergers and acquisitions team.

Leonard will assume her new role as executive vice president on Jan. 1, the company said, and will take over as general counsel and secretary from Tom Canepa, who “is leaving to pursue other opportunities.”

Leonard has been a corporate and transactional attorney at Baker & Hostetler since 1995 and began serving as outside counsel for Lordstown Motors in 2019. Last year, she advised the company on its public offering through a merger with blank-check company DiamondPeak Holdings, which valued the electric pickup truck startup at $1.6 billion.

In a statement, Lordstown CEO Dan Ninivaggi praised Leonard’s “deep experience” in mergers and acquisitions, financing and corporate governance.

Leonard’s addition follows several recent executive appointments by the electric truck maker, including hiring an auto industry veteran as its new president last month.

Lordstown in October also named a new chief financial officer, months after the departure of its former CEO and finance chief following an internal investigation into claims made by a short-seller.

The Ohio-based company is facing scrutiny from federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to its SPAC merger, and statements it previously made about pre-orders for its vehicles.

Lordstown Motors did not immediately respond to request for comment on those matters Tuesday. In a July 15 filing with the SEC, it said it “has cooperated, and will continue to cooperate, with these and any other regulatory or governmental investigations and inquiries.”

A representative for Baker & Hostetler didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Leonard’s departure.

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