Tower Automotive appoints vice president, general counsel

Tower Automotive Inc. has appointed David M. DiRita as senior vice president and general counsel, a newly created position for the company, reporting to Kathleen Ligocki, president and CEO.

According to Ligocki, DiRita will play a critical role in providing legal counsel on the company's corporate strategy and in coordinating legal matters worldwide. He also is in charge of coordinating relationships with external counsel and implementing processes and systems within the legal department to create efficiencies.

Most recently, DiRita served as deputy general counsel for Visteon Corp., which he joined in 2000. Before joining Visteon, he worked at Johnson Controls Inc. as group general counsel for North and South America. In these roles, he was responsible for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and corporate governance, as well as a variety of other commercial activities. Earlier, DiRita practiced corporate law for Dickinson-Wright in Detroit.

He received a bachelor's degree in business and a juris doctor from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.