Kent Leacock, a government relations professional at startup Proterra Inc., the leading US manufacturer of zero-emission commercial transit vehicles, has extensive experience with the relationship between regulators and innovators.
Mary Quazzo is a governance guru. She is the vice president, principal counsel, and secretary for Bechtel Group, Inc., and has served in-house at Bechtel for the past 27 years.
As the general counsel of a company at the forefront of a rapidly changing industry, it’s interesting to learn that Kristin Sverchek credits a significant portion of her success to proactively building relationships with her team, key decision-makers within the company, and mentors from the legal community.
Linda Graebner spent many years as a CEO leading consumer product companies, and has held numerous other leadership positions in the business world. But she is currently thriving in a new role: the boardroom. She recently took the time to share some of the details of her board experiences and the insights she has gained along the way, important lessons for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.
Before he wrote about the cutthroat politics of fictional Westeros, however, Martin authored Ace in the Hole, writing that “Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers.”
Those who know Katy Motiey for her fearless business leadership and in-house expertise may be surprised to hear that corporate law wasn’t her first calling. Those who’ve benefited from her talent, however, are undoubtedly thankful that her path led Motiey to the corporate world. Motiey was born in Iran, moved to the United States when she was a month old, but then moved back to Iran with her family when she was a young child.
Considering that women currently fill only a third of open board positions — even with an increasing awareness of the value of diversity on boards — Stewart’s numbers reflect great success in this area.
Both data privacy and data security issues make headlines regularly; this article will focus on how in-house counsel can help educate and engage the board of directors with regard to data security.
Salle Yoo took the helm of Uber’s legal department as its general counsel in 2012 and it’s almost hard to imagine that in just over four years she has gone from being its first and only lawyer to managing a team of over 200 people in 21 offices.
"People hear the word ‘boards’ and they make many assumptions. Many of them are simply false,” says Aileen Casanave, deputy general counsel at Jiff, Inc.
Albert Schweitzer, a French-German theologian, organist, philosopher, and physician, once said, “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.”
Why should lawyers consider joining startups? “Because it’s hair-raising fun! You feel like you’re on the precipice of a cliff and guzzling from the fire hose most of the time,” Suzy Fulton, vice president of operations and general counsel at Appspace, colorfully answers.
The most memorable compliment Mariah Panza Garcia, general counsel of the Conco Companies, has received from her teenage daughter, then elementary school-aged: “You are always the best dressed mom when you drop me off at school and when I grow up I want to wear clothes like you.”
“I know exactly which three dishes I want to try," says Alexa King with a smile after we greet and exchange niceties at a trendy Vietnamese restaurant in Mountain View, California. King is the EVP, general counsel and corporate secretary of FireEye, a leading network security company.