Summary: Tony West, the third-highest ranking official of the Unites States Department of Justice joins PepsiCo as the company’s general counsel, corporate secretary and vice president of government affairs.
PepsiCo, Inc. announced on Tuesday that Tony West has joined the company as executive vice president of government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective November 24, 2014. West succeeds Larry Thompson, who is retiring after almost a decade of service.
West joins PepsiCo from the United States Department of Justice, where he served as Associate Attorney General of the United States, the agency’s third-ranking official. In his new role, West will be responsible for PepsiCo’s worldwide legal function and government affairs organization, as well as the company’s global compliance function and the PepsiCo Foundation. He will report to PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.
“Tony is a tremendous addition to the PepsiCo management team,” said Nooyi. “He is a world-class leader who brings a strong set of skills, experiences and values to PepsiCo. We will benefit greatly from Tony’s leadership and expertise.”
West has more than 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors. As Associate Attorney General, he led the Justice Department’s efforts to protect Americans’ civil rights; assist homeowners who suffered losses during the 2008 financial crisis; strengthen the federal relationship with sovereign Native American nations; and secure access to criminal and civil legal aid regardless of income.
West previously served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, the Justice Department’s largest litigating component, where he oversaw the work of approximately 1,000 lawyers. In this role, he bolstered the division’s enforcement efforts to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud and abuse. He also emphasized the division’s responsibility to bring civil and criminal actions to enforce the nation’s consumer protection laws.
Earlier in his career, West was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California, where he prosecuted a variety of federal crimes. He also spent time as a state Special Assistant Attorney General in California and was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco.
He graduated with honors from Harvard College, where he served as publisher of the Harvard Political Review, and received his law degree from Stanford Law School, where he was elected President of the Stanford Law Review.