Janice Block of Kaplan, Inc. HANDOUT.

AS THE CHIEF LEGAL AND HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER FOR KAPLAN Inc., worldwide, Janice Block finds herself wearing many hats almost every day. "It's such a long list of roles that general counsel fulfill or serve today," says Block, who has been with Kaplan for 11 years. Block oversees the legal, compliance, human resources, leadership development and government relations functions for Kaplan, a global education company with close to 20,000 employees working in more than 400 locations in more than 30 countries. The company's main headquarters is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Providing higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation courses and materials and other educational products and services, Kaplan educates more than 1 million students and professionals each year, Block says.

LEGAL TEAM: Kaplan's legal team consists of nearly 20 lawyers and about 35 employees in all. "We have lawyers and legal professionals in nine cities across five countries (Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., Fort Lauderdale, London, Beijing, Sydney, Singapore and La Crosse, Wisconsin), she says. The department outsources some of its work, ranging from litigation to labor and employment law issues, from transactional work, including mergers and acquisitions, to intellectual property, real estate and regulatory matters.

OUTSIDE COUNSEL: For her company's litigation and labor and employment work, Block often turns to Jones Day and Drinker Biddle & Reath. She also uses Drinker Biddle as well as Powers Pyles Sutter and Verville and Cooley for regulatory, DLA Piper for intellectual property, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for certain litigation matters and Dentons for transactional matters.

DAILY DUTIES: "My responsibilities really bucket into three areas," Block says, noting that she focuses on legal and compliance issues, human resources and responsibilities related to her being on the executive team. On any given day, Block may be found focusing on employee engagement, talent management or compensation and benefits in the human resources area. On the compliance side, she might be found working on anticorruption and data protection. In her executive leadership role, she might be found sitting on Kaplan's compliance, investment or compensation committees. When asked if she has more than 24 hours in each of her days, Block says, "Sometimes I wish I did."

ROUTE TO THE TOP: After receiving her J.D. from Columbia Law School, Block went to work in Big Law, working first in the intellectual practice at Kirkland & Ellis, leaving there for Seyfarth Shaw and then joining Rudnick & Wolfe, a predecessor of DLA Piper, as a partner in 1997. In 1998, Block took her first in-house job as a regional counsel in Chicago for Microsoft. She left Microsoft to become a stay-at-home mom to her three children for a while but came out of "retirement" to join Greenberg Traurig in 2004. Her first job as a general counsel came in 2005, when she went to work for Career Education Corp. She moved on to Kaplan at the end of 2006.

PERSONAL: Block, 55, is married to Ron Chaddock. Her children are Sara, 27, a Chicago trust and estates attorney; Alex, 25, a data scientist for IBM Watson; and Francesca, 18, a participant in Princeton University's Bridge Year Program in China. Her free time is often spent on ice. "For many years, I have spent much time in ice rinks," Block says, noting that she avidly follows her husband's chosen sport, hockey, and enjoys watching Francesca compete in figure skating.

LAST BOOK READ: Block says reading for pleasure is mostly a "someday activity" because she doesn't get to do it much right now. The last book she read was "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah.

WHAT KEEPS HER UP AT NIGHT: "On the legal side of things, cybersecurity/data security is the topic that keeps me most awake at night," Block says, adding that her team makes sure Kaplan is properly protected. On the human resources side, she thinks about how to create a truly diverse work environment, both from a virtual standpoint and on the ground.

PRIORITIES: Block says one of her major priorities is to make sure that the acquisition of Kaplan University by Purdue University is successful. This sale is expected to provide greater access to higher education to the adult student population.