For a general counsel leading legal in a global organization, the role often takes on more nuances and challenges than for those locally based. Ed Sebold shares with Michael Sachs his experiences working in an organization that operates globally and how there is more to international law than just understanding the laws.
Ed Sebold currently serves as the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Kyndryl Holdings, Inc., managing a worldwide team of over 300 lawyers and other professionals. As a founding member of the Kyndryl senior leadership team reporting to the CEO, Ed has played a key role in creating the legal, compliance, and corporate governance structure for the company. He also helped guide its spin-off from IBM and listing as a publicly traded company.
Before being selected as the General Counsel of Kyndryl, Ed was the Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at IBM. He concurrently managed three significant legal functions (M&A, Litigation, & Watson Health) with a combined team of over 70 in-house lawyers/professionals along with outside counsel and a substantial budget.
As the Chief Legal Officer for IBM’s Watson Health operating division, he oversaw all aspects of the legal function worldwide including transactions, healthcare regulatory issues, intellectual property, international expansion and data rights/governance.
As the leader of the M&A legal team, Ed helped to close the $34 billion purchase of Red Hat -- the largest acquisition in IBM's history and one of the largest recent technology transactions.
As the Global Head of Litigation for IBM, and before that a partner with Jones Day, Ed provided trusted strategic advice to senior business leaders and major companies on corporate governance, compliance, internal investigations, defending the reputation of iconic brands, and interacting with government regulators including the DOJ, SEC, CFPB and FDA. He also worked in tandem with Communications, Investor Relations, and Government Affairs to formulate media and legislative strategies on issues of importance and reputational risk.
