Karen Hale listed among 2019’s “Most Powerful Women in Corporate America”
Karen L. Hale, a native of Roanoke County and daughter of Gloria Hale, was appointed on March 22, as Chief Legal Officer and member of the Executive Committee of Novartis. She will start her new role effective May 15, 2021 and will be based in Basel, Switzerland.
Hale brings to Novartis over 20 years of deep, global legal and compliance experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She joins Novartis from AbbVie where she was vice president, Deputy General Counsel. Prior to this she held the position of chief ethnics and compliance officer at AbbVie for 6 years, leading the global compliance program and acting as a trusted advisor to AbbVie’s executive leadership team and Board of Directors.
Karen joined Abbott Laboratories in 1997 and transitioned to AbbVie when it was spun in 2013. She has over-seen and managed complex commercial litigation globally and provided counsel on a variety of significant corporate issues.
Prior to joining Abbott, she was an associate attorney with the law firm of Sidley and Austin in Chicago, IL She earned the Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Duke University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
“Karen is a proven senior legal leader with extensive global experience across key healthcare, legal and compliance domains,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. “She also brings to the Novartis executive team deep US experience and a passion to advance racial justice.”
In March 2019 Karen was honored by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of 50 “Most Powerful Women in Corporate America,” an article that appeared in the Feb./March edition of Black Enterprise Magazine.
She is the daughter of Gloria Hale and the granddaughter of the late James Robert and Carrie B. Hale, all of Roanoke County. She currently resides in Chicago, IL. She has taken both the Virginia Bar and Illinois Bar Exams, passing both the first time, and will now be practicing international law!
