Company Description: Spherion Corporation provides recruitment, outsourcing and technology services. Founded in 1946, with operations in the United States, Europe, and Asia/Pacific, Spherion helps companies efficiently plan, acquire, and optimize talent to improve their bottom line.
Education: B.S., University of South Florida
M.Acc., University of South Florida
J.D., University of Miami School of Law
Department Size: 18
Immediate Prior Position: Associate, Greenburg Traurig, LLP
1. How would you describe your management style?
My management style is collaborative. Our law department is successful because it functions very much as a team. We consider input from every team member. The other managers and I consider ourselves to be leaders among peers. We find that all of our members are very receptive to and appreciate working in a culture based in this kind of mutual respect.
2. Please describe a defining moment that was critical to your success.
At the end of 2000, the law department was recognized company-wide as the department of the year. It isn’t that common for an organization to recognize its law department in that way. Thus, it highlighted for me that all the hard work my team and I had put in to building the department since the merger had been noticed and appreciated by our clients— both in the field and at headquarters.
3. Please describe a major challenge that you overcame.
I became general counsel immediately after Spherion (then known as Interim Services Inc.) merged with Norrell Corporation in 1999, and I was charged with redesigning and rebuilding the law department to meet the needs of the new enterprise. I inherited two separate departments in two different geographic locations. They had operated very distinctly from each other. Over the next 18 months, we focused on building talent, processes, and procedures that best served the needs of the company.
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From the December 2001 issue of Diversity & The Bar®