FORTUNE FORTUNE 501-1000 COMPANIES LIST OF WOMEN’S GENERAL COUNSEL
BY RACE/ETHNICITY Race/Ethnicity*
Asian American/Pacifi c Islander Hispanic
African American Caucasian
Middle Eastern Total
ASIAN AMERICAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 0% HISPANIC 2.4% AFRICAN AMERICAN 3.7%
MIDDLE EASTERN 0% *Percentage of all Fortune 500 Companies with women general counsel CAUCASIAN 93.9% PROF IL E 30 LAURA WIT T E
CARGILL CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUNSEL AND CORPORATE SECRETARY
tural, fi nancial and industrial products and services. That’s why her “legal delivery approach is pragmatic, solution- driven, and focused on the company’s businesses; my priority is to do all I can to help our business leaders achieve their objectives. And that’s the approach our legal depart- ment takes as well.” Named Cargill’s GC in June, Witte has been immersed
A
in the company’s business since 1985 when she started as Cargill’s fertilizer lawyer. In 2001 she became Asia Pacifi c general counsel and in 2005 moved to Brussels, Belgium, to serve as deputy general counsel for Cargill’s European businesses. She describes her 26-year history with the company as a huge advantage in her current role. Founded during the American Civil War, Cargill is a vast, privately held company with interests in 66 countries; it takes a long time to learn its many employees, busi- nesses, customers, and the ways in which it operates. Prior to becoming GC, Witte was part of Cargill’s legal
leadership team for a decade. Still, during that time she never sensed she was being groomed for the job, and it was a
good corporate lawyer has to be all about business, says Laura Witte, GC of Cargill, a Minneapolis-based international producer and marketer of food, agricul-
surprise to her when she was offered the position in March. Witte breaks down her GC duties into thirds: Advising
senior leadership and the board; leading a global team of 200 lawyers in 30 different countries; and advising the company on matters related to legal risk, corporate responsibility, and compliance. In addition, she serves on the board of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a consortium of legal professionals whose mission is to attract lawyers of color to the Twin Cities. Witte’s predecessor at Cargill, Steven Euller, helped launch the organization in 2005 as the fi rst corporate representative on its board. “Recruiting and retaining women and minority attorneys is very impor- tant,” she adds. “It’s an essential part of Cargill’s strategy.” Witte grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s, largely in the South.
Her parents, she says, were very active in the civil rights movement and instilled the importance of justice, equality, and civil discourse in their children. “Politics and social justice were a part of who I was, growing up,” she says. “At law school [Drake University School of Law], I thought I’d be a constitutional lawyer; I never considered corporate practice. “Following law school, I was in private practice for a
very short time—nine months to be exact,” she adds. “I was being groomed for litigation and dealing with confl ict. That’s just not me; I’m more of a strategic problem solver. After going in-house, I instantly knew I’d found a good fi t.” Throughout her career at Cargill, Witte’s focus has
been drawn to challenges and opportunities whether that means taking on new business clients and complex assignments or raising her hand for an overseas job, she wants it: “For me, it’s been like being a kid in candy shop. I can’t say no to new opportunities, and that willingness to take risk has propelled my career.”
% # 0
2.4 3.7
93.9 0
100
0 2 3
77 0
82
12 are represented by women general counsel, including Deborah Platt Majoras at Procter & Gamble, Kelly at ConocoPhillips, Esta Stecher at Goldman Sachs Group, Amy Schulman at Pfi zer, Maura Abeln Smith at PepsiCo, Dorian Paley at Oracle, Gloria Santona at McDonald’s, Laura Schumacher at Abbott Laboratories, Louise Parent at American Express, Denise Keane at Altria Group, Teri Plumer-McClure at United Parcel Service and Helen Pudlin at PNC Financial Services Group.
FORTUNE 500 DEPARTURES Attrition at some of the Fortune 500 companies this year resulted in a loss of women general counsel. A few compa- nies—Baxter International [192], BB&T Corp. [220], Pitney-
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
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