Diane Brayton is executive vice president and chief legal officer of The New York Times Company. In her role, she provides legal counsel to the company’s board of directors and senior management and leads a legal team that advises on, among other areas, media and intellectual property law, corporate governance and securities matters, commercial transactions, employment and labor relations, and litigation. In addition to her duties as general counsel, Ms. Brayton oversees the company’s corporate security and occupational health and safety functions. Ms. Brayton served as the Times Company’s corporate secretary from 2011 to 2023.
Prior to becoming general counsel in 2017, Ms. Brayton held a series of progressively senior roles in the company’s legal department, serving as deputy general counsel (2016), assistant general counsel (2009 to 2016), and senior counsel (2007 to 2009). She joined the Times Company in 2004 as counsel. Prior to working at the Times Company, she was vice president and counsel in the legal department of Credit Suisse First Boston from 2002 to 2004 and an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York, Moscow and London from 1997 to 2002. From 1996 to 1997, she was a clerk for the Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In 2019, Ms. Brayton joined the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.