How does your past experience help you in your job?

During my years as General Counsel and a member of the senior leadership team, I learned what in-house lawyers, management and boards want and expect from their outside legal service providers.

Describe a unique moment in your career.

Picture this. I am General Counsel at Tennant. I am simultaneously closing on two international acquisitions — one in Scotland and the other in Brazil. Before the board meeting starts at 7:30 a.m., I need to review a raft of overnight changes so we can finalize the deals and issue public announcements. I have all the documents and schedules laid out on my office floor and am crawling around in my pencil skirt suit and heels as I cross-check everything. My CEO walks in to ask me something and I give him the kind of glare that only a mother knows how to give. He takes one look at me and backs out of the office. We successfully completed both deals and the Board never knew how close we were cutting it. My CEO and I still laugh about my evil eye and I never did find out what he wanted to talk to me about that day.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

When I started my career, there were few women in “big” law. I was told that because of my gender, I couldn’t try cases and couldn’t develop a meaningful book of business. It was the perfect motivation for me to prove the naysayers wrong — and I did!