Newsmakers

John N. Affuso has joined the legal department of the Massachusetts Port Authority as a senior legal counsel/real estate. Previously, he was counsel for the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation of Boston.

Elias Behrakis has joined VoiceSignal Technologies in Woburn, Mass. as corporate counsel. VoiceSignal develops technology for speech solutions for consumer products and mobile devices.

Matthew L. Daniel has joined the legal department at Charles River Labs in Wilmington, Mass. as senior corporate counsel. Daniel will specialize in securities law and mergers and acquisitions. He most recently was with Goodwin Procter in Boston.

Andrew Theodore Dimauro has joined Northwestern Mutual Financial Network’s Steffen Group in Springfield, Mass. as a financial representative. He focuses his work on providing guidance and solutions for a variety of financial needs and goals for the personal and business markets. Previously, Dimauro was a partner in the Springfield firm of Matroni & Dimauro.

Scott Z. Hochfelder has been promoted to general counsel and secretary of KB Toys, Inc.

Sangwha Hong recently joined the Hasbro, Inc. legal department in Rhode Island as a staff attorney.

Joseph W. LaPlume has joined the legal department of Charles River Labs in Wilmington, Mass. as senior corporate counsel specializing in international law and operations. He was most recently with the legal department of GTECH in West Greenwich, R.I.

Steven S. Locke has joined the Office of the General Counsel at Brandeis University as associate general counsel. Previously, Locke was general counsel of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

Patricia McGovern has been promoted to general counsel and senior vice president of corporate and community affairs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Steve Snyder has joined Waltham-based AmeriVault Corp. as the company’s vice president of compliance solutions. Snyder’s initial focus will be on the company’s new e-mail archiving solution.

Megan Tipper recently joined National Grid in Westborough, Mass. as senior attorney in the property practice group of the Legal Department. She was previously at Bingham McCutchen in Boston. National Grid is a subsidiary of National Grid Transco, an international energy delivery business with principal activities in the regulated electricity and natural gas industries.

Debra Uluer has joined the Hasbro, Inc. legal department in Rhode Island as a licensing attorney.

Joseph D. Vittiglio has joined Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corp. in Waltham, Mass. as a senior corporate attorney. He most recently was with Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo in Boston.

Laurie Weinstein recently became deputy general counsel at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She was previously associate general counsel at UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. in Worcester, Mass.