The US Episcopal Church’s Pension Group has lined up Julian Chung as its next chief legal officer, replacing Nancy Sanborn who is set to retire at the end of this year.

Chung joins from sustainability assurance firm Enveritas, where she is general counsel and head of compliance. At the Church Pension Group (CPG), Chung will be responsible for legal strategy, legal risk management and all other legal services delivery to support the pension fund. She will sit on CPG’s executive leadership team and will also be corporate secretary for all CPG companies.

New York-based CPG provides pension benefits and health and life insurance to clergy and lay employees of the Episcopal Church. It also provides property and casualty insurance and book and music publishing, including all official worship materials for the Episcopal Church.

Mary Kate Wold, CPG’s CEO and president, said: “[Chung’s] breadth of experience as a corporate attorney, incorporating legal strategy and business strategy, spans more than 25 years and will benefit us greatly. I look forward to working with her as we continue to navigate the complexities of the products, programmes and services we offer the employees and institutions of the Episcopal Church.”

Chung arrives at CPG after just under two years at Enveritas, having previously been GC at real estate business Turnberry. Prior to that she spent close to six years as a partner at Fried Frank (covering corporate law, asset-backed financing and real estate), just under four years as a partner at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe (covering leveraged finance and corporate transactions), and more than six years as a partner at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft (covering corporate, bankruptcy and finance). She started her legal career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Sanborn, meantime, is retiring after 13 years with CPG, which she joined from Davis Polk & Wardwell where she spent more than two decades, latterly as a partner.

Wold said: “I want to thank Nancy for her leadership over the past 13 years. She has been an instrumental member of our executive leadership team and played an important role in several significant initiatives during her tenure, among them building a strong team of highly qualified attorneys to support our businesses and continuing to strengthen our corporate governance practices. I will miss her guidance and strategic counsel and wish her the very best in her retirement.”