United Continental Holdings, Inc.- Brett Hart

He replaces Tom Sabatino, who is leaving United. Sabatino announced his plans to leave on the same day that the October 1 merger was finalized. Sabatino had been selected to head the merged airlines' legal department, but, according to the November 18^th article at law.com, a spokesperson told CorpCounsel.com at the time he'd simply opted not to move forward with the company.

Sabatino is the second general counsel to leave United in under a year. Paul Lovejoy resigned in November 2009 ''for personal reasons,'' a company spokesperson said at the time.

In his role at United Continental Holdings, Mr. Hart will be responsible for managing the company's legal affairs worldwide, and will report directly to President and CEO Jeff Smisek.

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In a press release, Smisek was quoted as saying: ''Brett's experience, leadership skills and legal expertise are great assets to our senior management team. He will play a key role as we integrate United and Continental and build the world's leading carrier.''

Mr. Hart most recently served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Sara Lee Corporation, where he directed global legal operations for the corporation.

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ChicagoBusiness.com reported that Hart left Sara Lee in anticipation of a management shake-up following the resignation of CEO Brenda Barnes. She suffered a stroke this year.

Before Sara Lee, Mr. Hart was a partner with Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Chicago. He also previously served as special assistant to the general counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C.

Hart earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Chicago Law School, and a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English from the University of Michigan.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Together with United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection, these airlines operate a total of approximately 5,800 flights a day to 371 airports on six continents. United's and Continental's more than 80,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world.