Name: Jenifer Baumann

Category: In-House: Innovative Leadership

Firm/Company: Pearson VUE

Title: VP, Assistant General Counsel

Time in Position: Since 2018

What was your route to the top?

What was your route to the top? I am originally from Belgrade, Montana, but have lived and worked in multiple cities across the United States. I received my Bachelor of Science in business from Montana State University and after working for a few years, I attended and graduated from Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington. I started my journey at Pearson VUE as a contracts manager in 2008 and have held multiple positions from supervisor, attorney, director and now VP, assistant general counsel.

What keeps you up at night?

While I try not to let business concerns keep me up at night, there are times I worry about compliance issues. For example, occasionally, I worry about what decisions are being made by employees or third-party suppliers that are not appropriately escalated to the compliance or legal teams because an individual is not aware of our policies and procedures. To avoid dwelling on the concern, I usually divert my energy to identifying proactive steps to raise visibility and awareness on the topic.

What is the best leadership advice you've given or received, and why do you think it was effective?

To surround myself with people who are smarter than I am. There is room for all of us to succeed and be acknowledged for our contributions. As a leader, it's my job to develop and promote leaders. I also believe, as legal professionals, we do a better job balancing corporate risk with a team that hold differing opinions and backgrounds.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession?

That being ­successful in the legal profession is less about being right and more about relationships. In our industry, our goal is to have ­long-term relationships with our customers. The first time they ­encounter the legal team is often at contract negotiation and, for this reason, we need to build rapport and use negotiation strategies that allow both parties to express their positions and, if possible, find a solution that allows both parties to win.

What is the most valuable career advice anyone has ever given you?

I don't remember whether a single person gave me this advice or whether this is something that I gathered from multiple sources. I think the best career advice I have received is to make my company and my boss look good. To me, this starts with a core group of values including being detail-oriented, organized, honest, ethical, professional and respectful. It also means doing more than my job description and anticipating what my company and boss would need or want me to do, as well as finding solutions to problems.