James Petkun is START’s General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer. Petkun serves on the company’s executive team and oversees all legal matters, including strategic transactions and M&A, corporate governance, data privacy, ethics and compliance, global labor and employment, litigation, and enterprise risk management. He also serves as Corporate Secretary, advising the Board of Directors on legal strategy across international operations and growth initiatives.

Petkun joined START from Sun Pharma (NSE: SUNPHARMA), a multinational life sciences and pharmaceutical company with $6B in annual revenue, 40,000+ employees, and 40+ manufacturing facilities across 5 continents. At Sun, Petkun served as Head of Legal Affairs, responsible for advising the company and its global subsidiaries, including Taro Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: TARO), Chattem Chemicals, and Pharmalucense, on global legal strategy. Prior to joining Sun, Petkun was a partner at Klehr Harrison LLP in Philadelphia, where he represented companies and boards of directors in complex civil and criminal litigation and government investigations.

Earlier in his career, Petkun was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, serving for 8 years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Petkun specialized in financial crime, cybercrime, and corporate fraud, tried over 65 trials to verdict (including 25+ jury trials), and argued appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In recognition of his trial and investigative work, Petkun was a two-time recipient of the DOJ Special Achievement Award, received formal recognition from the FBI Director for financial crime prosecutions, and was nominated by DOJ for a Director’s Award. He began his legal career as a litigation associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, prior to serving as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Petkun holds a B.B.A. from Emory University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Villanova University School of Law.