Damien Atkins Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, Beast Industries Co.

Executive Profile
Seasoned Chief Legal Officer at leading global enterprises in the digital media, cybersecurity and consumer products sectors with a consistent track record of delivering differentiated value through in M&A, corporate governance, government relations, ethics & compliance, government investigations, litigation,and  intellectual property.

Background

Damien Atkins is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Beast Industries Co. Beast Industries is a multifaceted media, entertainment, and consumer products & services company founded by Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast—the most-watched content creator in the world. Renowned for transforming digital content creation, Beast Industries boasts a diverse portfolio of ventures that extend far beyond its YouTube origins. At Beast Industries, Damien is responsible for legal, compliance, government affairs, and corporate security.

Prior to joining Beast Industries, Mr. Atkins was the Chief Legal Officer of Aura,a leader in consumer cybersecurity solutions, where he is responsible for legal, compliance, government affairs and internal audit. Prior to joining Aura, Damien was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for The Hershey Company, where he was responsible for leading the corporate secretary, government relations, legal, compliance, privacy, and corporate security functions.

Prior to joining Hershey in August of 2018, Damien was the General Counsel and Secretary for Panasonic Corporation of North America as well as the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Panasonic Enterprise Solutions, a $100M provider of audio and visual technology solutions.  At Panasonic, Damien led the legal, government relations, compliance, and regulatory teams. Damien also led global legal teams in a multi-jurisdictional Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation. 

Before Panasonic, Damien was Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel - Corporate and Chief Compliance Officer for AOL Inc. Damien began his legal career as a corporate associate at Chadbourne & Parke LLP (now known as Norton Rose LLP).

In November of 2020, the Hershey Legal Department was selected by the Financial Times as one of the most innovative in-house legal teams for Leadership Development and the Future of Work. Damien was named Corporate Counsel of the Year by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association in 2017 and General Counsel of the Year by the New Jersey Business Journal in 2016.

Damien holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Stanford University where he was Senior Class President, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.