P2P

95 I L T A N E T . O R G backstopped by external analytical and technical resources. We manage all aspects of data from data ingestion to modeling to data products that our member law firms use. What life lessons has your work taught you? One of my greatest career accomplishments to-date was acting as Senior Product Owner managing our first truly global HR system roll-out to over 30 countries in 14 languages while simultaneously designing our operational processes to support the product in run-state using Agile. I had to balance 75,000 miles of international travel annually with raising my ten-month- old son. I'm also proud of my ability to lead a team through the pivot of working completely remotely when COVID happened in the middle of our implementation. What life lessons has your work taught you? Take small wins while keeping your eye on the big picture. That's worked well for the development of our data projects, but it has also translated well to my fitness routine and home projects too. What qualities makes a good leader? Three things: • Make tough decisions: Gather feedback and try to build consensus, but ultimately a leader must be willing to make the decisions. • Have hard conversations: Hard conversations don't get easier from procrastination. Addressing something in the moment is better than delaying. • Don't be afraid to admit you were wrong: Sometimes you don't make the right decisions. Be ready to own them and acknowledge how you will improve in the future. What do you pull from for inspiration? (books, podcasts, Ted talks, etc.) I get a lot of ideas from social media including Twitter and LinkedIn. Accounts I follow, in addition to many of the legal thought leaders, include Joy Buolamwini for data ethics issues, Chris Albon for machine learning operations details, Ask a Manager for team management tips, and Michelle Silverthorn for diversity and inclusion advice. What advice would you give to your younger self? I would tell myself to pair that history major with something quantitative! The combination of liberal arts and numbers is a great range to have in the tech space. ILTA F R O M P A R T 1 , C H E C K O U T T H E P O D C A S T W I T H L I S A M E C O N I L I S T E N T O P O D C A S T 46 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 E X T R A S Women Who Lead: Lisa Meconi ILTA's Women Who Lead Advisory Committee put out a call for names earlier this year to identify women who have recently experienced a job transition into their first management role. WWL will be profiling four new women leaders in Peer to Peer, one profile in each of the next four issues. WWL will also will do an interview with them as part of our podcast series throughout the next year, so stay tuned! How did you get interested in the field you are currently in? I grew up in a family of lawyers – both grandfathers, my father, and several of my uncles – so I've always been surrounded by debaters and critical thinkers. I aspired to be an attorney myself. I did get into law school but ultimately chose a full-time role with my company over the debt of law school. I received my MBA in 2011 while working full- time and then transitioned from marketing to technology to satisfy my curiosity around project management and found myself drawn to technology leadership roles over and over again because I love solving problems together with our business partners. What led you to your career? Was there a defining moment? My career path has been the happiest of accidents. I started as a temporary worker doing data entry for Liberty Mutual 20 years ago and have been able to follow my passions and interests as they D I R E C T O R O F L E G A L E N G I N E E R I N G – L E G A L T E C H N O L O G Y L I B E R T Y M U T U A L I N S U R A N C E A N D F R O M P A R T 2 , C H E C K O U T T H E P O D C A S T W I T H C R Y S T A L K E L L E Y L I S T E N T O P O D C A S T 64 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 E X T R A S Women Who Lead: Crystal Kelley ILTA's Women Who Lead Advisory Committee put out a call for names earlier this year to identify women who have recently experienced a job transition into their first management role. WWL will be profiling four new women leaders in Peer to Peer, one profile in each of the next four issues. WWL will also will do an interview with them as part of our podcast series throughout the next year, so stay tuned! How did you get interested in the field you are currently in? I've always been very analytical and eager to learn new things. IT always intrigued me since it encompasses so many fields, so I started learning about different operating systems and programming languages. What led you to your career? Was there a defining moment? I was working as a 911 operator and ready for a change. I landed my first IT job as an analyst for a legal helpdesk, and that allowed me to start building the skills I needed to advance my career. What is one of your greatest career acomplishments? I think I'm most proud of the fact that I was able to become a manager within a short time of starting my career. I started my career in IT 8 years ago, with very little knowledge, and worked hard to develop my I T U S E R S U P P O R T M A N A G E R T R O U T M A N P E P P E R Carmin sits down with two of our Women Who Lead marvels, Jima Kato and Catherine Monte, to discuss mentorship, changing careers, and much more!" T U N E I N N O W !

• Cover