Claudius Sokenu is the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Avantor, a Fortune 500 life sciences company.
In this role, Claudius is responsible for the company’s global legal, corporate secretary, ethics and compliance, and global quality and regulatory functions. Prior to joining Avantor, Claudius was the first African-American to be appointed General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Administrative Officer at Unisys in its 150-year history.
Prior to Unisys, Claudius was Senior Vice President and Global Deputy General Counsel at Cognizant, a Fortune 500 Information Technology company.
Claudius was the first African-American man to be appointed partner at Shearman & Sterling in its 151-year history.
Claudius served in the Honors Program at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. He is a fellow with the American College of Governance Counsel.
Claudius earned an LL.M. in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown University Law Center, an LL.M. in corporate and commercial law from the University of London’s King’s College London and London School of Economics, and an LL.B from London South Bank University.