Catherine Razzano Leads the Way

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It was a record at the time: 315 million downloads in three months. The app saw its US unique visitor count spike by nearly 50 percent in the same period. The impressive growth came as isolated Americans looked for a way to cope with the stress wrought by COVID-19 lockdowns. Where did most turn to? It wasn’t Netflix, Zoom, Snapchat, YouTube, or Twitter. Most sought entertainment, relief, distraction, and connection on a four-year-old short-form video platform called TikTok.

The events caught the attention of Catherine Razzano, a veteran in-house lawyer and compliance expert. At the time, she was leading compliance improvements for Panasonic Avionics Corporation while the company was under a deferred prosecution agreement for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. Having always had an interest in the tech sector, Razzano downloaded TikTok and started learning more about both the platform and its competitors.

Two years later, Razzano received a phone call from a recruiter. A tech company known as ByteDance was looking for a leader to build the legal compliance function, with a focus on global antibribery and anticorruption compliance controls, for its most popular app: TikTok.

Razzano, whose previous work was mostly in the manufacturing and defense sectors, was looking for a change. “I knew that TikTok was still going through a huge growth curve,” she says. “I was interested in getting more directly into the tech industry, and TikTok seemed like a great fit.”

Research confirmed her hunch. As Razzano tapped into her professional network for input and advice, she heard good things about the company and its legal leaders. Friends and colleagues shared her excitement about the potential of working for a large startup with unicorn status and seemingly limitless potential to chart a successful path forward.

But what excited Razzano most was the chance to build a large, best-in-class compliance team for a high-growth company looking to go public. “I knew there would be investment, resources, and support for me to build a strong center of excellence,” Razzano says.

No one could have predicted the triumphs and challenges at TikTok that would affect Razzano in her new role. Three months after she joined, TikTok overtook Instagram and became the world’s most downloaded app. Then came allegations about privacy violations and public safety concerns from agencies like the FBI.

“Other women poured into me, and I wanted to do the same for those just starting out. By sharing my good and bad experiences authentically, I hope to demonstrate how others can build and shape the career that’s right for them.”

Catherine Razzano

Lawmakers summoned the company’s CEO to Capitol Hill. Later, they passed a bill requiring the sale or ban of the app by early 2025. ByteDance is challenging the law.

Moving into a new sector and getting more fully equipped to lead global legal compliance at a fast-paced, highly scrutinized multinational tech company required Razzano to lean on everything she had experienced in the earlier stages of her life and career.

Razzano was born into a family of lawyers. Her dad, brother, uncle, and cousins are all in what she jokingly refers to as “the family business.” Hearing family members discuss legal issues around the dinner table and visiting her father in court as a young child gave Razzano a front-row seat to a day in the life of an attorney.

While her dad bragged about attending Georgetown, she chose the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, DC. Razzano interned for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit while in law school and later clerked for the Honorable John M. Facciola in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

“I knew that TikTok was still going through a huge growth curve. I was interested in getting more directly into the tech industry, and TikTok seemed like a great fit.”

Catherine Razzano

After clerking, like many young lawyers, Razzano entered private practice as an associate in the complex litigation and dispute resolution group at Clifford Chance US LLP and then as part of the business fraud group at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. Ultimately, Razzano wanted to be as close to her client as possible, so she decided to go in-house at General Dynamics Corporation in 2010 as assistant general counsel and director. She later joined Panasonic Avionics in 2018 as vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer.

Razzano has stacked up accomplishments and experienced many milestones during this time. She played a senior role in a high-profile FCPA matter for a defense contractor and quickly rose from junior associate to senior counsel. Along the way, Razzano built a reputation for her litigation skills and growing subject matter expertise in business fraud and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

At General Dynamics, she oversaw the company’s anticorruption compliance program, trade compliance program, internal compliance audits, and led domestic lobbying and regulatory compliance. She then rebuilt Panasonic Aviation’s ethics and compliance program while under a DOJ monitorship. 

After leaving the partner track at Cadwalader to go in-house, Razzano became interested in sharing her experience to mentor and help younger female lawyers. “Other women poured into me, and I wanted to do the same for those just starting out,” she says. “By sharing my good and bad experiences authentically, I hope to demonstrate how others can build and shape the career that’s right for them.” Razzano resolved to look for formal and informal opportunities to provide mentorship, which she still does today as TikTok’s head of global legal compliance.

Since assuming her current role, Razzano has built a compliance function anchored by centers of excellence that address specific areas, including antibribery, anticorruption, trade controls, sanctions, anti-money laundering, payments compliance, and ESG compliance. Her department also supports TikTok’s investigations and ethics teams. A network of regional compliance officers in TikTok’s largest markets helps her unite and manage all compliance activities worldwide. The company now has close to forty global legal compliance lawyers in a total of six countries.

With elections, global conflicts, technology shifts, labor shortages, rising inflation, and unpredictable user behavior, 2025 brings a lot of uncertainty for a company like TikTok. Razzano’s leadership has given the company a global compliance framework that strives to keep pace with its rapid growth and respond to the volatile current landscape.

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