General Counsel Interview with Sarah Schott
S
arah Schott is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Gravie, a health benefits company
that creates employer-sponsored health benefit solutions. She sets the overall legal and compliance strategy and helps mitigate legal and regulatory risk. She previously served as Chief Compliance Officer of Northwestern Mutual, where she was responsible for all regulatory compliance operations and chaired the Enterprise Compliance Committee. She has also served as Senior Managing Director, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of B.C. Ziegler & Company, a publicly traded broker-dealer, mutual fund advisor and investment banking firm.
Why did Gravie decide to combine the roles of GC/CCO and hire at this time? Gravie has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, and we expect the growth will continue to accelerate. Combining the GC and CCO roles makes sense at this point, given the need to integrate both legal and compliance perspectives into executive level conversations. Because we are in a highly regulated industry, it is critical that we have excellent oversight of operational and regulatory risks and develop repeatable, high-quality processes as the business adds scale quickly. That work draws heavily from the compliance side of the business. My prior experience as a GC of a financial services company and CCO of an insurance company helps me to wear both hats at the same time and know which role needs emphasis at any particular time. It is also
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