GoPro Elevates Company Veteran to Succeed Longtime Legal Chief

GoPro Inc. has promoted Jason Stephen to general counsel and corporate secretary amid the departure of Eve Saltman, who was announced Monday as the new top lawyer for cybersecurity company Darktrace Holdings Ltd.

GoPro disclosed in an Aug. 1 securities filing that Saltman stepped down as of May 23 from her roles as chief legal and compliance officer and senior vice president of business and corporate development. Stephen, a signatory to that filing and a former deputy general counsel who has worked at GoPro since 2015, confirmed via email that he took on the company’s top legal duties at that time.

Stephen said the business and corporate development functions at GoPro, as well as its compliance portfolio, are “managed by internal teams” at the company and no longer part of its in-house law department.

Saltman didn’t respond to a request for comment. Her hire by Darktrace was touted by the UK cybersecurity company in a statement announcing its opening of a new corporate office and development center in Dallas.

Darktrace, which uses agentic artificial intelligence tools for some of its products and has been on the front lines of AI regulation, was sold for $5.3 billion in cash last year to private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC.

Darktrace hired Saltman shortly after she left GoPro, where she spent a decade in a variety of legal roles. Saltman joined GoPro as a deputy general counsel in 2014 and she helped handle its initial public offering that same year. She left in 2017 to become the top lawyer for software company Asana Inc., but returned to GoPro the following year as legal chief.

GoPro has struggled in recent years amid competition from foreign competitors and other challenges to its business, such as decreased sales due to supply chain issues and better smartphone camera technology. GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman, who a decade ago was one of the highest-paid US corporate leaders, agreed in March to waive his salary as the company sought to “reduce its operating expenses” this year, according to a securities filing.

Saltman earned almost $858,000 in total compensation last year, about half the $1.6 million she received during fiscal 2023, according to GoPro’s most recent proxy statement. Saltman was part of a C-suite at GoPro that all saw their remuneration reduced as the San Mateo, Calif.-based company embarked on cost reduction efforts, including shedding about 15% of its workforce.

At Darktrace, Saltman will relocate to the Dallas area but work closely with her colleagues in the UK, including the company’s new CEO Jill Popelka, she said in post Monday to LinkedIn. Popelka, a former COO at Darktrace, took over last year from former leader Poppy Gustafsson, who spent eight years running the company and is now the UK government’s investment minister.

“Returning to the software world has been nothing short of invigorating, especially at the dynamic and fast-evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity,” Saltman said.

Saltman moves into a legal leadership and corporate secretarial role at Darktrace previously held by James Sporle, who left the company in May to become general counsel for streaming movie platform Mubi Inc. Saltman started her career at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a law firm that once advised London-based private equity firm Vitruvian Partners on a major investment in Darktrace.