Jan Heinemann, Adidas general counsel.
German sportswear and design company Adidas has hired Bayer’s former U.S. head of law, patents and compliance as its newest general counsel.
Jan Heinemann, 45, will move from New York to his new office in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and start work at Adidas on Nov. 26. He'll be in charge of the strategic direction for all legal and compliance affairs.
He's taking the legal department reins from Paul Ehrlich, who has served as the interim top lawyer after Frank Dassler retired earlier this year. Ehrlich is GC for Adidas global brands.
Heinemann’s new boss, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted, said in a prepared statement that he was “pleased that … we have been able to win over a competent general counsel for Adidas who is experienced in dealing with the legal issues of a globally active company.”
“Adidas will benefit from his extensive experience and expertise on its further path of profitable growth,” he added.
News of Heinemann’s transition from the pharmaceutical to fashion industry comes days after Bayer named St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. executive Scott Partridge as the general counsel for its expanded U.S. operations. He replaced Heinemann as GC on Oct. 1.
In August, Monsanto’s top lawyer, David Snively, retired on the heels of Bayer’s $66 billion acquisition of the agribusiness giant. A short time later, a federal jury in San Francisco awarded nearly $290 million to a former school groundskeeper who argued he got cancer from using Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, which led to a drop in Monsanto’s stock price and a deluge of lawsuits.
Partridge, who had been with Monsanto since 2006 as deputy general counsel and, later, vice president for global strategy, said in a recent interview that he is focused on combining the Bayer and Monsanto legal teams.
Heinemann began his stint at Bayer in 2007 as head of legal and M&A. In that role, he was involved in the aforementioned Monsanto takeover along with the acquisition of New Jersey-based pharmaceutical group Merck & Co. Inc. for $14.2 billion in 2014 and the buyout of Norwegian cancer drugmaker Algeta ASA for $2.9 billion the same year.
In 2016, Heinemann became Bayer's head of U.S. legal operations, according to his LinkedIn profile. Attempts to speak with him and representatives of Bayer and Adidas were not immediately successful.
Prior to joining Bayer, Heinemann spent five years as a senior associate at German law firm Hengeler Mueller in Frankfurt, where he specialized in corporate, M&A and finance work.