Christoph A. Pereira serves as General Electric Company's Vice President, Chief Corporate, Securities & Finance Counsel and General Counsel Business Innovations. He oversees all legal matters for GE and its businesses relating to global securities law, corporate governance, corporate finance and corporate law. In addition, as General Counsel for Business Innovations, he oversees the Global Law & Policy teams for GE Current, GE Lighting, GE Ventures and GE Legal Shared Services. Under Pereira’s leadership, GE has won numerous governance and disclosure awards and, in 2016, he received the Chairman’s Leadership Award for his innovation in financial reporting. Chris joined GE in March of 2007.
Before joining GE in 2007, Pereira served as Vice President of Legal Affairs & Secretary at Exelixis, a NASDAQ-listed biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. He oversaw the company’s legal affairs and served as a member of the executive management committee. Prior to joining Exelixis, Pereira practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell from 1998 to 2004, where he specialized in securities law, mergers & acquisitions and venture capital. Pereira was based in the firm’s New York and Palo Alto offices. From 1995 through 1997, Chris clerked at the Federal Courts in Austria.
He is also a guest lecturer at Columbia Law School, where Pereira teaches corporate law and corporate governance. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals, and previously served as a member of the NYSE Governance Council and as President of the Stockholder Relations Society of New York.
Pereira earned his law degrees from the University of Vienna Law School and the University of Chicago Law School. He also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.