Linda Szymanski was appointed as the company secretary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A), effective Jan. 1, 2017.

Szymanski will succeed Michiel Brandjes, who will retire at year-end 2016 after 36 years at Shell, 13 of which as general counsel-corporate and company secretary, according to a Dec. 9 press release.

Szymanski became general counsel-corporate effective Aug. 1, and will remain in this role when she becomes company secretary.

Prior to becoming general counsel-corporate, she was general counsel for the upstream Americas business based in the U.S. Prior to that, Szymanski was the group chief ethics and compliance officer based in the Netherlands.

Szymanski’s legal positions within Shell Oil. Co. have included chemicals legal managing counsel and other senior roles in the labor/employment, litigation, and commercial practice areas.