More Than a Lawyer
Beyond the GC Role
The tumultuous events of the last 18 months have seen a drive to increase corporate diversity in the executive suite – and led to many Black general counsel being tapped to take on senior roles that go beyond just legal. Executive Search Consultant Sonya Olds Som spoke to Black leaders about their career journeys and the advice they would give to those navigating the path to the C-suite. Is being a general counsel the perfect background for a board role – or does stepping out of the legal department require a fundamental shift in mindset? By Sonya Olds Som
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NE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT BECOMES APPARENT speaking to Black leaders is that there is no set career path. Having been nominated by President Biden into the role and confirmed by the United States Senate, Donald M. Remy serves as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Yet his career has included roles at the non-profit National Collegiate Athletic Association, Fannie Mae and the Department of Justice, as well as in law firms Latham & Watkins and O’Melveny & Myers. It’s a career without an obvious trajectory, but one driven, Remy says, by “a passion for the work and the mission.” He explains: “Nothing really connects to anything else, except my leadership skills were always on display.” Group President, Lifecycle Solutions & Chief Administrative Officer at Deere & Company, Marc Howze, tells a similarly varied story. “I didn’t have a traditional legal career – I didn’t start out as a lawyer.” Howze has held multiple roles at Deere, from Associate General Counsel to successfully running a factory. He entered the legal profession while in the military, going from being a Field Artillery officer to the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. For some, the connection between law and business felt natural from the start. Sharon Barner is Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Cummins, where she
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previously held the general counsel role. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and sat on the Management Committee at Foley & Lardner. She explains: “Because my subject area was intellectual property, that allowed me to really think about my clients from a business perspective even as a lawyer. My focus was, ‘if we get this right, it will increase the value of your company, and have a significant business impact.’ I felt very fortunate that as a lawyer I could be involved in proactive ways to help the business gain value.” A willingness to try different roles can be vital in building the skillset to move into leadership. Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, who was born in Ghana and studied in the U.S. and Quebec, leads the Office of the General Counsel at Duke Energy, where he currently serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. He has held various roles in the company, including on the business side, and feels those experiences made him a better candidate for a general counsel role, as well as more able to move to other leadership positions. A broad grounding in the business ensured he was in alignment with the company’s goals: “I thought being well rounded in legal better positioned me, but it was also about the CEO’s vision of what she wanted in a general
