Mary Jane Pioli
Mary Jane has a knack for persuading senior business and law firm leaders to learn and embrace new client development approaches. Her experience as regional Marketing Director for Arthur Andersen/Accenture and Chief Marketing Officer of Perkins Coie are a strong foundation of relevant experience, and her track record of improving profitability speaks for itself. Certified as a professional coach by the International Coach Federation, Mary Jane has helped shape the careers of countless professional services providers for more than 25 years. In her spare time, she loves sharing adventures with her family and horses in the Pacific Northwest.
What excites you about working with lawyers and law firms?
Lawyers are smart and motivated. They like to learn new skills and create success. It’s challenging and rewarding to help them work from their strengths and develop practices that serve their clients’ interests, their own careers and their firms’ goals.
What advice would you give to an associate who’s about to make partner?
Learn to think like a partner from the start. You are now the CEO of your own business within a larger business. Develop and implement a plan, develop your team and be the partner you would like to have had mentor you.
Give an example of someone whose career path you changed.
Often, focus is the key. For example, I helped a young corporate partner make the difficult choice between focusing on public company work or on privately held and emerging company work. Once he became clear, he immediately identified an opportunity and won the work. His career has been very successful since.
How does your past experience help you in your job?
As a journalism major in undergrad I learned to fuel my curiosity and ask great questions, and I teach lawyers to use these skills to help them develop business. For more than 30 years, I have worked in the professional services industry, from ad agencies, to big accounting firm and IT consulting, to global law firms. This has helped me understand the business model and how to operate successfully in it.
Describe a unique moment in your career.
At a young age (around 26) I was hand-picked by three industry leaders to be the president of my industry association. They recognized the need for diverse thinking and approaches to take the industry forward. During that same timeframe I counseled a bank CEO on his communications strategies with employees, the public, stakeholders and media. Those two experiences gave me the confidence to work successfully with senior leaders. I later transferred these skills to my job as CMO of a global law firm, collaborating with partners to create a business development and client service culture.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I was the captain of my high school field hockey team, taking on tough competitors throughout our Midwest region.
Education
The Ohio State University, B.A. in Journalism, 1983.
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