Brocade, a data center supplier, names Ellen O’Donnell as general counsel

Brocade announced on June 10 the appointment of Ellen “Nell” O’Donnell as general counsel and the head of the company’s global legal department. She will report directly to CEO Lloyd Carney.

O’Donnell brings to Brocade a strong background in corporate governance and diverse industry experience from a career working in corporate legal departments and law firms, and with entrepreneurial ventures. Her corporate experience includes roles as SVP and general counsel at Micromuse Inc. and associate general counsel at LucasArts.

More recently, O’Donnell has assisted cloud computing and software-as-a-service companies with a variety of complex legal matters including intellectual property ownership and licensing, privacy, customer agreements and data security.

“Nell brings the right skill sets to lead Brocade and our legal department forward in an industry that is undergoing massive transformation due to the cloud, virtualization, software networking and consumption-based economics,” said Carney. “Additionally, her broad experience and background in licensing, regulatory compliance and intellectual property enforcement and litigation give her the critical leadership skills necessary to protect our company’s business interests and our innovations.”

O’Donnell’s education includes a bachelor of arts from Stanford University and Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

“I am pleased to join Brocade, a dynamic company that is positioned to extend its leadership in the rapidly evolving data center networking industry,” said O’Donnell. “The numerous laws and regulations impacting the high-tech industry are changing rapidly and I look forward to my role as general counsel to help keep the company constantly in front of these key issues in order to better serve Brocade, our customers, and partners.”