Ericsson has named a new chief legal officer, appointing Scott Dresser to the role effective March 21.
Dresser will be based in the U.S., reporting to CEO Börje Ekholm. In addition to legal chief, Dresser is joining the vendor’s executive team as SVP and head of Group Function Legal Affairs & Compliance. He’s replacing Xavier Dedullen, who held the position of chief legal officer and secretary to the board of directors since April 2018. Dedullen will stay on with the company during a transition period.
Ericsson’s new legal chief comes from Veon, where he was general counsel for eight years. Before that, Dresser held senior positions at Virgin Media, White Mountains Capital and Conservation International. He has more than thirty years of legal experience, including the start of his career with law firms Lord Day & Lord and Morgan Lewis, specializing in corporate law, governance, and mergers and acquisitions.
The leadership change comes as Ericsson has faced further scrutiny from U.S. authorities, most recently related to disclosures about its investigation into conduct in Iraq between 2011 and 2019. In March the U.S. Department of Justice informed Ericsson that it breached a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) settlement reached in 2019 related to corruption practices and bribery schemes spanning multiple countries, by failing to make subsequent disclosures about the Iraq investigation after the DPA. The DoJ also said Ericsson’s disclosures about its internal investigation prior to the DPA were insufficient. Ericsson was previously notified of a DPA breach in October 2021.
In welcoming Dresser to the position, Ekholm in a statement called out a focus on strengthening governance, compliance and controls, saying it comes at a crucial time for the vendor.
“Scott joins us at a critical time and will play a key role working with me, our Board and the rest of our team as we continue to grow and strengthen the company,” Ekholm stated. “We demand that our business be conducted responsibly and with integrity across its value chain. Scott’s experience driving positive change will be invaluable as Ericsson expands its business and continues its cultural transformation, enhancing its governance, compliance, and controls.”
Dresser also commented on a compliance and corporate governance as a key focus.
“I am excited to be joining and look forward to working with Börje and the entire organization to execute the strategy while focusing on operating with the highest standards of corporate governance and compliance,” stated Dresser regarding his new role.
In 2019 Ericsson paid more than $1 billion in penalties stemming from the DoJ and SEC investigations into its involvement in corruption and bribery in multiple foreign countries. Ericsson also agreed to three years of compliance monitoring by a third party, which started in June 2020.
When news reports surfaced in February that Ericsson may have made payments to the ISIS terror organization to access certain transport routes in Iraq, shares dropped steeply.
Last month Ericsson said in part that it had “invested significant time and resources to understand these matters. The investigation could not identify that any Ericsson employee was directly involved in financing terrorist organizations.”
In March Ericsson’s CEO, and CFO Carl Mellander were named as defendants in a class action lawsuit, alleging bribes made to ISIS. One activist investor, Cevian Capital, called for an overhaul in Ericsson’s corporate governance, saying it was inferior and costing shareholders billions.