Page 11 - CCCA Magazine Winter 2017

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Simone Cole

hey say variety is the spice of life and Simone Cole “What I like about
couldn’t agree more. As Vice President and Gen-
teral Counsel at Weston Foods in Toronto, she is in being in-house
the middle of everything. If there is a hurricane, for ex-
ample, there may be a supply issue, and North Ameri- is having that
can trade talks can have a big impact on the business. human side.”
“We are not in a law frm tower; we are on the ground
solving business issues,” she says. “That is what’s really
great about my current job.” “I made a pretty big departure by taking the job
“I defnitely was a kid everyone said was going to go of GC,” she says. In her previous job, she dealt with
to law school,” she laughs. Her father is a lawyer but cau- public company issues including securities and M&A,
tioned her against it as a career path “like most lawyers do.” whereas now she deals with a variety of legal and
She tried to heed his advice: before becoming a law- regulatory issues that arise in a multi-billion dollar
yer, she was an elementary school French teacher. But bakery business.
she knew even in teacher’s college that the ft was not She oversees a “small but mighty” team of lawyers
quite right—she took the LSAT only six weeks into her and paralegals in Canada and the U.S. Indeed, she is
frst teaching position. the frst to admit she doesn’t do it alone. “What I like
Like every interviewer she encountered, you are about being in-house is having that human side,” she
probably wondering, “Why the change?” However, she says. “Your team is quite loyal to you and you care a
says the skills are very transferable: “both professions tremendous amount about them in return.”
are in the industry of knowledge”; you need to “take le- While there are some shared services, “generally we
gal concepts and apply them so that people understand do or oversee everything.” How does she handle al-
their options.” locating work then? “The key is to have the right re-
Simone’s performance at law school proves her point, sources and an operating model so the right work goes
as she graduated near the top of her class. This surprised to the right people.”
her: “I worked really hard in law school but I thought ev- Her speciality? “Problem solving—I love having to
eryone was working as hard as me.” think my way through a puzzle.” She loves fnding a
Perhaps it was her role models growing up. Both her solid solution and, as much as possible, saving her cli-
parents were professionals, and in their house, “there is ents time, money and resources so they can focus on
a big emphasis on education and hard work.” Her father the business.
(Canadian) is a lawyer and her mother (Trinidadian) was People are her frst priority. Time with her husband
one of few women (and a woman of colour) to get a pro- and two young sons, as well as other family and friends
fessional accounting designation in Canada at that time. on the weekend, she explains, “feeds me for the week.”
Success is just the word to describe Simone. She went This ties in nicely to her upcoming role as Co-Chair
directly from law school to Torys LLP on Bay Street in of the 2018 CCCA National Conference—“It is about
Toronto—a coveted move. Although the big frms were being part of the bigger community.” She has partici-
never her dream (she always knew she wanted to be pated in conferences in previous years, fnding them
on the executive path), she followed her own advice: great opportunities “for rich learning and being part
“Take every opportunity for how it can help you grow of the profession.” She looks forward to having a more
and develop.” prominent role, to learning more things, meeting more
From Torys, she went to George Weston Limited as people and giving back to the community.
Legal Counsel, where she stayed for almost eight years. “Don’t underestimate the power of curiosity,” she
In May, she assumed her current position at Weston advises. “While every experience may not seem rel-
Foods, a leading bakery company with food manufac- evant at the time, they all shape your path and can lead
turing operations in Canada and the U.S. to a rich and rewarding journey, if you are open to it.”

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