Ruth N. Steinholtz

Ruth Steinholtz is a multilingual senior executive and internationally experienced general counsel who has built and led cross-cultural professional teams and designed and implemented reputation enhancing programmes globally in the areas of ethics & compliance and crisis management. 

As General Counsel & Group Security Coordinator for Borealis AG; based in Copenhagen, Denmark and Vienna, Austria, Ruth was responsible for developing the Ethics Excellence programme which is often recommended as best practice for the size and type of company. While at Borealis, Ruth focused on leadership and strategic development and brought a business approach to managing the legal department.    

Previously in the UK, Ruth was European General Counsel and Global Incident Management Coordinator for Allergan, Inc. and Region Counsel for Cadbury Beverages Europe.  Prior to moving in-house Ruth was in private practice, initially in San Francisco and later in Milan, Italy and Cairo, Egypt.  During this period she advised clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, licensing and other commercial matters.     

She was admitted to the Bar of the State of California in 1979 having graduated from the University Of Colorado At Boulder (B.A.) and received her law degree from the University Of San Francisco School Of Law.  She also is a fellow of the Salzburg Seminar, and attended the University of San Diego School of Law Summer International Law programmes in Guadalajara, Mexico and Paris. She also participated in the Courage to Lead Programme held by Borealis with IMD International Business School.

Ruth founded and is a Director of the Consortium for Continuing Legal Education in Europe. Ruth is a member of the Board of Directors of ACC (Europe). Ruth is certified as a mediator by CEDR and is a certified Corporate Transformation Tools ® consultant.   She is a frequent speaker at international conferences on values based ethics and compliance as well as on leadership and the in-house legal profession.