Janet Wright
Vice President – Corporate, Securities & Finance Counsel And Assistant Secretary
Dell
Austin, Texas
5:45 am
Wake up, put on tennis shoes, and I’m out the door with Satchel the corgi for his morning walk and my mental run through the day’s activities. I like to take the time to think through the meetings of the day. What is the agenda, what do we need to accomplish, and how can I help? Back home, I brew my first cup of tea.
6:15 am
Ten minutes of meditation before I shower, dress, and head to the kitchen. I have my second cup of tea with some oatmeal while I tick through my overnight email and scan the news.
7:00 am
Call with my counterpart in APJ. We catch up, discuss a few work projects, and focus on the department’s technology/knowledge management initiative, which we jointly lead.
7:30 am
Get into my bike-rack-friendly sport utility vehicle and turn on NPR. Drive to the office with the third cup of tea.
8:00 am
My colleagues in finance are hard at work on the financial close for the just ended quarter. I check in with the chief accounting officer and we talk through the calendar for our quarterly disclosure review and the earnings call, as well as the upcoming board and audit committee meetings. Then I catch up with my corporate secretary lead to discuss resolutions that we need to prepare and the status of the board materials.
9:00 am
The finance and legal team meet with the CFO to discuss the financials and our quarterly disclosures. We will have a series of meetings to discuss key themes, review draft materials, and prepare for the disclosure filing and earnings call over the next few weeks.
10:00 am
Head straight to my next meeting with my team leaders, who focus on M&A, capital markets, securities and disclosure, financial services, facilities, compensation and benefits, and governance. We discuss our quarterly budget results and current work projects. We allocate some projects so that team members have opportunities to work on new issues that add to their expertise. We also nominate two of our lawyers for the department’s development training program
11:00 am
Time for email. I prefer standing at my desk, and use the time to move my feet. Is that pedometer cheating?
12:00 pm
Two of my team leads and I are working on a project together, so we head out to lunch to catch up on key topics in advance of our meeting today with the full project team. We decide on Vietnamese today, in lieu of Tex-Mex.
1:15 pm
Back at my desk for more email. I decide that the day deserves another cup of tea. My team has a joint coffee/tea machine in my cube. This is one of the best things about my work, as everyone on the team comes by my desk at some point. My office is the “water cooler.”
2:30 pm
Project team meeting with my smart, energetic, and committed colleagues. My coworkers are the best part of my job. We have a lot to do, but we spend a lot of time laughing.
3:30 pm
Department technology committee meeting. We review the status of our current programs, which includes implementing a new document management system for the department and working to clean up our various data storage sites.
4:30 pm
Back at my desk. I check the afternoon’s emails, and then do some more board meeting prep.
5:30 pm
Check the calendar to see if it’s yoga night or gym night and head out to meet my 17-year-old daughter at the gym (the two older kids are already away at college). Bluetooth call with my colleague who leads our litigation team as I drive.
6:00 pm
An hour at the gym. My daughter is my trainer, and today is weights. We also have yoga, Pilates, kick- boxing, and cycling in the current rotation.
7:00 pm
We grab a quick dinner at the neighborhood café, a small French bistro, then head home to take Satchel on another short walk.
9:00 pm
A final check of email, then time to read and relax.
10:30 pm
Lights out!
