Lori Schechter, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of McKesson.

LORI A. SCHECHTER MADE A MAJOR CAREER CHANGE IN 2012, leaving an international law firm where she was a successful litigator to join McKesson Corp., a health care company that appointed her as executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer in 2014. Schechter says McKesson is the oldest and largest health care company in the nation, serving more than 50 percent of U.S. hospitals and 20 percent of physicians. McKesson delivers one-third of all medications used daily in North America, with operations in more than 16 countries. "The GC position at McKesson has been incredibly rewarding as I strive to help the company minimize risk and deliver value for our customers and investors while creating an inspiring and energizing work environment for our employees," Schechter says.

LEGAL TEAM: Schechter says the general counsel organization (GCO) that she manages includes lawyers and nonlawyers in the legal department, public affairs, compliance, legal operations and the corporate secretary's team. The GCO has about 300 employees, including slightly more than one-third who are lawyers, she says. The team is in various locations where McKesson has offices, including San Francisco.

OUTSIDE COUNSEL: The GCO uses firms in the U.S., Canada and Europe, including Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider; Covington & Burling; Davies; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Hyman, Phelps & McNamara; Linklaters; Morrison & Foerster; Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; Quarles & Brady; Reed Smith; and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, says Schechter.

DAILY DUTIES: Schechter is responsible for overseeing and managing all five areas of the GCO. She also serves on the company's executive committee and has reporting and engagement responsibilities with its board of directors. She says her days are filled with managing a variety of legal and business issues working with business leaders across the enterprise, working with the human resources team and her leadership team to help drive employee engagement and career development, engaging with outside counsel as necessary and responding to a high volume of email each day.

ROUTE TO THE TOP: After graduating from Yale Law School in 1987, Schechter clerked for a federal judge in Boston. Schechter joined Morrison & Foerster in 1988 as a litigation associate and became a partner in 1995. She says she chaired the firm's litigation department for four years, overseeing approximately 500 litigation attorneys, and also served on the firm's board of directors and compensation committee. In 2012, Schechter joined McKesson as an associate general counsel to lead its litigation team. She says she took on added responsibilities in 2013, including leading the employment, intellectual property, IT and sourcing and credit and treasury legal teams. She took on her present positions in June 2014.

PERSONAL: Schechter, 56, is married and has two teenage children. "As a family, we enjoy skiing, hiking and traveling, and I have always had a love of painting in my spare time," she says.

LAST BOOK I READ: "The last book I read that I really loved was 'All the Light We Cannot See' by Anthony Doerr," she says.

WHAT KEEPS HER UP AT NIGHT: "What keeps me up at night changes often, but it typically involves some aspect of the 'shades of gray' we are frequently facing with respect to legal risks. The questions we face rarely lend themselves to black and white answers," she says. "Instead they are questions of first impression, without legal or historic guidance, or questions that are very dependent on the specific facts and circumstances that exist at the time but could change as a result of factors outside our control. These questions require strategic analysis of risks and rewards, with the full spectrum of stakeholders and potentially impacted parties [in] mind."

PRIORITIES: Schechter says her driving vision for the organization she leads is to help McKesson minimize risk and deliver value to its customers, shareholders and employees with the unique expertise her five teams contribute. "My priorities are to inspire my team in delivering on this vision, and to develop and leverage our employee talent to the maximum extent possible so we can execute on the multiple demands and roles our organization takes on for the company," she says.