Michael Poterala in 2007.

The University of Maryland announced a new vice president of legal affairs and general counsel in an email sent to the university community by President Wallace Loh at about 2:30 p.m. 

Michael Poterala, who is the deputy general counsel at North Carolina State University, will start at the position in January. He will replace Jack “Terry” Roach, who retired last month after working at the university for almost four decades.

Poterala has more than two decades of law experience, including 10 years in private practice in Detroit and 13 years in various roles at Michigan State University, Loh’s email states. At that university, Poterala oversaw the expansion of technology commercialization operations and helped in “licensing technologies that produced $16M in annual revenue.” 

Additionally, he represented Michigan State in the creation of the Big Ten Network, the email states.

Loh’s email also thanked journalism Dean Lucy Dalglish “for identifying and recruiting a large and exception pool of candidates from around the country.”