Wonder Woman in Business Sheila Murphy

Sheila Murphy

CEO and President of Focus Forward LLC and

Chief Learning & Talent Officer of WOMN LLC

After 20 years of successfully litigating and developing and coaching talent in corporate America and law firms, Sheila is pursuing her passion for helping others reach their full potential. Leading with moxie, Sheila is CEO and President of Focus Forward LLC and Chief Learning & Talent Officer of WOMN LLC, focused on having individuals and businesses achieve their career and business goals. Sheila also continues to support the financial industry in her role as a consultant with Bates Group.  

In 2018, Sheila retired as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at MetLife where she provided litigation, regulatory and risk mitigation advice. As a well-respected thought leader, Sheila served as an executive sponsor to MetLife’s U.S. Women’s Business Network, co-chaired the Legal Affair’s Academy providing developmental opportunities to legal and compliance professionals worldwide and served as a member of its U.S. Task Force on diversity.  Prior to joining MetLife, Sheila was at the law firm of Thacher Proffitt & Wood.  

Sheila is a member of the Boards of Directors of National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) and PowerPlay, NYC, an organization that engages and educates underserved girls with a focus on sports. Sheila serves on the advisory board of Transforming Women's Leadership in Law and co-chairs the CARE’s Women’s Network of New York, which works on eradicating poverty through empowering women and girls. Previously, she was a member of the Board for Read Alliance. Women’s Venture Fund awarded Sheila the highest Leaf Award in recognition of her commitment to helping others advance in their careers. She was named a Most Influential Irish Woman by the Irish Voice, a Leading Women Lawyer in NYC by Crain's New York, and a Business 100 honoree by Irish America. Sheila also has received the Benchmark Litigation In-house Award at the Americas Women in Business Awards, the Virginia S. Mueller Outstanding Member Award from NAWL and a First Chair award for hard work, innovation and significant contributions to the legal community. 

Sheila is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served on the Comparative Labor Law Journal and the School of Management at the State University of New York at Binghamton where she graduated magna cum laude. Sheila is a frequent speaker on litigation and regulatory issues, talent, and business development, leadership and diversity

Enjoy the podcast.

Sheila Murphy

Connect with Sheila on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilamurphy333/

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A Dynamic Duo of Deborahs!

deborah mcmurray

CEO+Strategy Architect at Content Pilot

Email: deborah.mcmurray@contentpilot.com

Deborah McMurray is the founder, CEO and Strategy Architect of Content Pilot. Her vision has always been to elevate professional services organizations through smarter strategies, dazzling execution and a service ethic that starts with passion and ends with love and care.

What makes her unique

As a former head of two large law firm marketing departments, she brings a leader’s in-house perspective to every engagement with a professional services firm. Having conducted many hundreds of client interviews, she also bring the client’s voice to every design, content and technology assignment.

Her approach is strategy-first in everything she does. Her clients’ strategic vision and goals reign supreme, and she and her team are the standard-bearers and protectors of their clients’ vision and goals. With her her client’s strategy as the foundation, she and her team design for the firm five years from now – pushing clients to see greater possibilities than they might imagine today.

She has co-authored several books published by the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Division, with the latest being, “The Lawyer’s Guide to Marketing on the Internet, 4th edition.” She also wrote the 2nd and 3rd editions with co-author Greg Siskind.

The projects that she loves

Anything with strategy. Unearthing positioning strategy is a special talent and she is known for it. Working with her creative director and project managers on smart and beautiful design for websites and brands, crafting a new and elevating content strategy, and writing copy with heart that hits the intellectual and emotional mark – she love all of this — and her clients do too.

She is literally thrilled when she works with major law firms on their new proposal systems and experience management projects. Again starting with strategy, she and her team climb into the clients’ processes, understand their teams and their technologies and find ways to streamline, making them better, more productive and most efficient.

What makes her proud

She is proud of three decades of service to the legal marketing community, having held many local and national roles in the Legal Marketing Association. Deborah was inducted into the LMA Hall of Fame in 2008 and the College of Law Practice Management as a Fellow in 2007. She was delighted to be on the inaugural list of National Law Journal’s “2013 Top 50 Legal Business Trailblazers & Pioneers” and included in LawDragon’s Top 100 Legal Consultants for several years running.

Her charitable service is intensely meaningful, too. She is Board President of the Resource Center, the largest LGBT and HIV provider of services in North Texas. And she is also a long-time board member and advocate for the Dallas Theater Center.

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deborah grabein

Chief Practice Group Integration Officer at Hunton Andrews Kurth

Work Email: dgrabein@hunton.com

Personal Email: dgrabein@gmail.com

Deborah Grabein is a seasoned strategic marketing, communications, and business development executive. I have over 25 years of experience in leadership, management, professional sales and marketing in the legal industry and have pioneered many marketing and business development initiatives. What drives me is the desire to learn, to be successful and to elevate others to do the same.

What makes her unique

A pioneering spirit and a keen desire to win. Opportunities and challenges inspire me. Tell me something cannot be done and I’ll find a way to do it. Tell me something should be better and I’ll make it happen. 

I’m a believer in a “rising tide raises all boats”, especially for women. The collective work of a team is far better when we have ideas and input from diverse experiences and capabilities.

Making a difference. Making an impact. That’s the legacy I want.

The projects that she loves

Anything involving learning. I’m a voracious reader, learner and student. Most of my younger years were spent in the local library reading, researching and pouring over anything the librarian thought I would enjoy. I had my own reading space in the librarian’s office where I could sit for hours reading, writing and thinking.

I thrive on change management, strategy and visioning. There is such an opportunity in today’s world to think differently about approaches to initiatives in work, community and even at home. And yes, I know that too much change is overwhelming and probably not always the smart way to approach a project. But, if we don’t look for the “new way of doing something,” we are doing ourselves and our clients a disservice.

Working smarter. Embracing technology and process. There are several major projects my team and I implemented in a law firm which enabled us to work smarter and more efficiently. Given the speed at which the world turns today, we need to consider every opportunity to think about systems to help us be more effective.

Opportunities to make a difference for all girls and women. My Mom’s journey to college began with women in her neighborhood collecting quarters and dimes to help her pay for tuition. Imagine the difference we can make if all of us thought about helping every girl and woman in her respective journey. I’ve been fortunate to create programs in several organizations to help lift women.

What makes her proud

Family. Profession. Community.

I’ve been married for 40 years and have two adult children who are married with children. My family has been such an advocate for me, especially when I was the VP of Communications for a start-up. My typical work week was 80+ hours and I traveled extensively. It was such an incredible experience to work in that environment, and I could not have done it without my family cheering me on.

I thought the best way to impact change was through politics and wanted to enter the political arena in D.C. However, fate choose otherwise and I landed in a law firm. I’ve spent most of my career in the legal profession and I am proud of the work I’ve done, the teams that I’ve built, and the successes that my teams and I created. I was fortunate to have terrific mentors who helped to open doors and guide me along the way.

Helping girls and women is paramount to the success of our businesses and communities. I’ve served as the Chair of the Women’s Business Alliance of the Greater Houston Partnership, currently serve on the Board of Family Houston and am the Chair of Development, and serve on the Advisory Committee of Girls Empowerment Network.

Enjoy the podcast.

Deborah McMurray

& Deborah Grabein

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Such a Pleasure to Hear Brenda Pontiff - Pontificate

Brenda Pontiff

Brenda Pontiff is the Director of Business Development, Diversity & Inclusion for Horvitz & Levy, LLP, the nation’s largest appellate law firm. Brenda started her business development career in law before marketing departments at firms existed. She served in a sales role at Vinson & Elkins for almost 8 years before becoming a business development manager at Deloitte & Touche where she sold litigation support services. From there, she went on to lead Ernst & Young’s largest sales support team and then took a role as a global client retention leader, achieving a 100% success rate in maintaining relationships with critical at-risk priority clients.  Brenda believes client service innovation is the key to law firm growth and success.

Having worked as a professional stand-up comic, writer, and actress, Brenda brings to bear a unique blend of skills. She’s passionate about sales and knows the importance of story and humor for crafting a winning pitch. She does not rely on marketing jargon or sophomoric solutions and believes selling is actually a service one provides to clients, helping them uncover issues and developing solutions.

Enjoy the podcast.

Brenda Pontiff

Connect with Brenda:

Email: bpontiff@horvitzlevy.com

Twitter: @brendapontiff

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What an Incredible Superstar Merry Neitlich is -- On and Off the Ice!

Merry Neitlich

EM Consulting

Merry Neitlich is a partner with EM Consulting and a leader in legal marketing and business development solutions.
With over 25 years of experience, Merry provides clients with tools to grow relationships and to successfully identify, court and convert targets into clients. In addition to proven client development programs, she has extensive branding expertise capturing a law firm’s unique distinction and integrating it with all marketing efforts. Merry implements social media programs, and creates websites and client satisfaction programs that inevitably lead to new business.

With extensive experience in change process management, Merry is often called upon to assist firms implement comprehensive marketing programs.

She has interviewed hundreds of clients for law firms and corporate legal departments across the country. Her work includes a variety of training programs in business development, client retention and satisfaction programs, advanced facilitation skills, creating TED Talks and other memorable presentations.

Merry has been an active member of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) serving as national Vice President and Co-Chair of the international LMA conference. She was inducted into the LMA Hall of Fame in 2017.

She is a frequent national speaker and author and has published articles in numerous national publications such as the National Law Journal, Corporate Legal Times, ABA Journal, Strategies, AmLaw Alert, Firm Governance, and Marketing for Lawyers. In 2012 Merry was inducted into the prestigious College of Law Practice Management.

As an accomplished nationally ranked adult competitive figure skater, Merry has claimed 17 national podium finishes at the U.S. Adult National Championships including Gold medals in 2001, 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2015. She is currently ranked third in the country by United States Figure Skating.

She is currently ranked third in the country by United States Figure Skating.

Merry received her B.A at the Ohio State University and a Masters Degree in communication from the University of Bridgeport.

Enjoy the podcast.

Merry Neitlich

Contact Merry:

Merry Neitlich
merry@EMconsults.org
949-260-0936

EM Consulting
2222 Martin, Suite 255
Irvine, CA 92612
Connect on LinkedIn

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Everyone Needs a Little Jim Jarrell in Their Day!

Jim Jarrell

Business Development

Jim Jarrell, a graduate of George Washington University’s acclaimed Law Firm Management Master’s degree program, is a senior legal marketing and management consultant based in New Jersey.  Jim helps clients develop and implement marketing and business development strategies through coaching and group training programs and works with clients to refine business processes and roll out management and leadership training for their firms.  He has enjoyed a career spanning more than two decades leading the strategic marketing and business development programs for professional services firms. Stints in leadership roles at two AmLaw 100 firms and management roles at a handful of smaller regional firms and boutiques have helped shape Jim’s national reputation as a leader in the field.

I asked Jim to tell me a little about his background and he said:

I help my clients by building structure and accountability into customized business development plans and through one-on-one or group dynamic coaching programs. I have developed and conducted formal training programs on a variety of topics that are often eligible for CLE credit, including business development planning, cross-selling strategies, personal branding, social media and delivering the perfect elevator pitch. I am also a certified “Yellow Belt” by the Legal Lean Institute for legal project management and process improvement.

I asked Jim What compelled him to offer his services and he said:

I’m a natural teacher. I spent 7 years as a high school teacher, 4 in a private school in Ohio and 3 in a public school in Florida – nothing prepares you for the myriad personalities and communications preferences of the world of lawyers quite like being a high school teacher.  I, quite literally, have seen it all and could write the book about it.  😊

How can lawyers benefit from your services most? What I counsel and train lawyers on is about how to incorporate business development into the normal course of their business – how to make it a disciplined effort, vs erratic or only when they think about it (which is usually when they don’t have work, which is often too late).

I asked Jim to name three things that people misunderstand about what he does and to set the record straight. Jim said:

1. “My business development plan executes/implements itself.” (write the plan, put it on the shelf and voila, new business comes)

2. “I’m a good lawyer and that’s the best kind of marketing for my practice.” – maybe 10 years ago, but not anymore.

3. The legal sales cycle can sometimes take years – success – like Rome – was not built in a day, and sometimes you have to stick it out.        

I asked, “What actionable advice or tips can you give lawyers”? He said:

Block out 15 minutes one day per week to spend time at least thinking about business development. Use the time to conduct personal outreach, follow-up, and nurture your existing relationships. Without the relationship, you face an uphill battle getting any new business.

Enjoy the podcast.

Jim Jarrell

How can people connect with Jim?

EMAIL: jjarrell@jaffepr.com

LinkedIn: in/jamesjarrell/

Twitter: @jimjarrell

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Wonder Woman in Business, Marla Sofer

Marla Sofer

VP of Strategic Partnerships at Jemstep

While studying peace and conflict resolution during a college program in the Middle East, Marla Sofer realized her passion for partnerships aimed at addressing significant social challenges. Today, she is the VP of Strategic Partnerships at Jemstep, a digital advice platform focused on helping Americans achieve their financial goals. At Jemstep, Marla has established allies across technical, financial, and consulting ecosystems to expand the availability of investment advice, improve the end-to-end user experience, and reduce the cost to serve clients at the country’s largest financial institutions. Prior to joining Jemstep, she was the Head of Business Development at Xignite, and the Head of Third-Party Monitoring and Oversight at Lending Club. Both firms dedicated to democratizing financial services to broader markets.

Before diving into Fintech in 2015, Marla led institutional partnerships at BlackRock, and J.P. Morgan. At BlackRock, she was a founding member of the Global Provider Strategy team responsible for developing and executing the firm’s operating strategy for selecting and partnering with global banks, index licensors, and market data providers. At J.P. Morgan, she established the West Coast Investment Management Segment coverage team, responsible for over 100 asset manager relationships. On behalf of her clients, she and her team led initiatives to improve automation and simplify business processes. Her entry to financial services was at Bank Leumi, where she managed partnerships with branch offices across South and Latin America, and directly with international high net worth clients.

Marla has committed to improving gender diversity at every one of her employers. She was a co-founder of Lending Club’s women’s network and recently launched a women’s network supporting the west coast at Invesco. Marla has been involved in numerous non-profit organizations. She spent several years on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council, focused on social justice and community engagement in the Bay Area. She also served on the advisory committee of the Jewish Coalition for Literacy,dedicated to improving the reading skills of elementary school-aged children in high risk areas of the Bay Area.

She holds an MBA in business strategy and international business from Rutgers University, completed a program focused on Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University, and a BA in Sociology and Hebrew from the University of Texas at Austin.

I found Marla to be engaging, funny, bright and a joy to interview. You will surely enjoy the podcast as much as I did.

Enjoy the podcast.

Marla Sofer

To Connect with Marla:

linkedin.com/in/marlasofer

Email: marlasofer@gmail.com

Twitter: @MarlaSofer

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