10 heads of legal
Ten companies, ten heads of legal: Chainlink Labs, Anyscale, Waabi, OpenSpace, brightwheel, Speedo, Monta, Forge, Automobili Lamborghini and Catchpoint, based from San Francisco to Copenhagen and Bologna. Four moved in-house after attorney or counsel roles at Perkins Coie, Mintz, O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Gorrissen Federspiel. A company deciding when to hire its first lawyer, or what a new head of legal should own, can compare notes here.
Professionals to explore
Joonsik Maing
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · Waabi
Joonsik Maing has held the top legal title at four companies: Head of Legal at Waabi since March 2026, General Counsel at Range Energy (2023-2026), VP, Head of Legal at Terawatt (2022-2023) and Head of Legal at Vicarious (2021-2022). Joonsik was also Head of Product & Commercial Legal at Nuro (2019-2021), the strongest fit here for questions on being a head of legal more than once.
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Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · Chainlink Labs
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos has been Head of Legal at Chainlink Labs since July 2026, an oracle platform bringing the global financial system onchain. Katherine was General Counsel at StarkWare (2024-2026), a Series D company working on zero-knowledge proof technology for blockchain scalability and privacy, and has been a Board Member - Architect Bermuda Ltd. at Architect since 2025, a fit for legal work on blockchain infrastructure.
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Manju Zacharias
LinkedInExperience: Former Associate General Counsel - Head of Legal Department and Corporate Secretary · Catchpoint
Manju Zacharias was Associate General Counsel - Head of Legal Department and Corporate Secretary at Catchpoint (2023-2026), running the global legal team as a member of the Senior Leadership Team through the company's acquisition by LogicMonitor Inc. in December 2025. Manju was Senior Counsel at Catchpoint (2019-2023) and Legal Counsel at NiCE (2014-2019), the pick for preparing a legal function for a sale.
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Mariana Paonessa
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · brightwheel
Privacy work runs through Mariana Paonessa's record: Senior Corporate Counsel & DPO at Remitly (2021-2025), after Corporate Counsel (2019-2021) and Associate Counsel (2017-2019) there. Mariana has been Head of Legal at brightwheel since February 2025, a fit for questions on stepping up from a counsel role to leading legal.
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Norbert N.
LinkedInExperience: Senior Vice President, Head of Legal · Forge
Norbert N. has been Senior Vice President, Head of Legal at Forge since March 2021, and was General Counsel (2020-2021) and Deputy General Counsel (2017-2020) there. A Corporate Attorney, Venture Capital role at Mintz (2015-2017) adds a view from Mintz on venture deals, useful for questions on venture financing.
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Patrick Lonergan
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · Anyscale
IP roles fill much of the record of Patrick Lonergan, who has been Head of Legal at Anyscale, an AI/ML infrastructure company, since April 2025. Patrick was VP, Legal & Compliance at CircleCI (2019-2025), Associate General Counsel - Intellectual Property at Zendesk (2015-2019), Director of Intellectual Property at TiVo (2013-2015) and Counsel at O'Melveny & Myers LLP (2011-2013), suited to IP and compliance questions.
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Perry Li
LinkedInExperience: Director, Head of Legal · OpenSpace
Perry Li heads the legal team of a spatial AI enterprise SaaS startup as Director, Head of Legal at OpenSpace since August 2022, and describes a background as a semiconductor design engineer and BigLaw patent litigation and technology transaction and privacy attorney. Perry was XR Product Counsel Secondee, Reality Lab at Meta (2021-2022), Tech Transactions Attorney at Perkins Coie (2019-2022) and Patent Litigation & Prosecution Attorney at Morrison Foerster (2017-2019).
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Philip Henszelman Jørsboe
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · Monta
In Copenhagen, Philip Henszelman Jørsboe heads the legal team at Monta, a Danish start-up founded in 2020 building software for charge point operators, fleets, utilities and electric vehicle drivers, as Head of Legal since January 2024. Philip was Legal Counsel at Monta (2022-2023) and Advokat attorney-at-law (2021-2022) and Advokatfuldmægtig (2018-2021) at Gorrissen Federspiel.
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Portincasa Maria Francesca
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.
Portincasa Maria Francesca has been Head of Legal at Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. in Sant'Agata Bolognese since December 2021 and an Avvocato at the company since 2005. Self-employed Avvocato work (2001-2015) and a research post at Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (2008-2012) round out the record, a fit for questions on leading legal at a company after many years inside it.
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Tanya Kiatkulpiboone
LinkedInExperience: Head of Legal · Speedo
Tanya Kiatkulpiboone has been Head of Legal at Speedo since September 2021. Tanya was Senior IP & Licensing Counsel at JAKKS Pacific (2019-2021), IP Counsel at Treasury Wine Estates (2017-2018) and IP Counsel at Uniloc USA, Inc. (2013-2017), so licensing and IP questions fit.
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Choose the right perspective
For a first or early legal hire at a technology company, talk to Joonsik Maing, who has held head of legal or general counsel titles at Waabi, Range Energy, Terawatt and Vicarious, or to Perry Li or Philip Henszelman Jørsboe. Patrick Lonergan and Tanya Kiatkulpiboone suit IP-heavy businesses, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos blockchain products, Norbert N. venture financing, Mariana Paonessa privacy, Manju Zacharias a company going through an acquisition, and Portincasa Maria Francesca legal work at one company over two decades.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01What should a company's first head of legal take on in the first six months, and what can wait?
- 02At what point does it make sense to bring IP, privacy or commercial contracts in-house instead of paying outside counsel?
- 03How should a head of legal prepare the company for a financing round or an acquisition by a larger buyer?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot; roles marked former had ended by then. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.