CGCA 2015: Shannon Rogers opts for business over law
Shannon Rogers walked away from law in 2003 to join a three-person tech start up. Global Relay now has $50 million in annual sales and more than 380 employees
Published Jun 05, 2015 • 5 minute read
Shannon Rogers rolled the dice and won. She threw away a comfortable career as a securities lawyer in 2003 to join a three-person tech start up, Global Relay Communications Inc.
It was a big gamble. The company had minimal revenue and she took no salary.Today, that company has topped $50 million in sales and now employs more than 380 people with offices in Vancouver, New York, Chicago, Halifax, London, Singapore and Raleigh, N.C.
And yes, Rogers, president and general counsel, now earns a salary. She is also the recipient of the 2015 Canadian General Counsel Award in business achievement.
Global Relay sits in a sweet spot, providing archiving and compliance messaging solutions for financial services and healthcare firms, including help with eDiscovery, big data and the cloud.
More than 20,000 customers in 90 countries, including 22 of the world’s top 25 banks, use its solutions.
Rogers said like many Canadian tech companies, Global Relay “had a hard time starting in Canada and went international. We had to prove ourselves.”
At press time, Global Relay was close to signing one of Canada’s Big Five banks, which would be a Canadian break-through for the global company.
When she joined Global Relay as the third employee, the dotcom bubble had burst and investment was hard to find. But email and digital communications were starting to soar. It was also a time when the financial markets had just come through a round of scandal with the likes of Enron and WorldCom. It meant that financial regulators were clamping down and companies needed email compliance services.
For Rogers, the move to the executive offices was timely. The company had good technology and a vision, but lacked the know-how on how to make it happen. Her corporate law background and willingness to cold call and make sales helped mould the operation into a viable venture.
Rogers is responsible for legal compliance, business development, partnerships and distribution and corporate governance.
She admits her move to business from law was “not the normal approach.” Lawyers usually slide into a well-paying job, oftentimes on the legal side, and transition over to the business offices.
Instead, she got her MBA in the boardroom of the largest financial institutions as she slugged it out with them over contracts and service level agreements and helped drive sales.
That experience is not lost on her. Today, she has a team of five lawyers internally, but she “doesn’t let them do pure legal.” Rather, they are exposed to all aspects of the company.
“I had to grow up in the business and build these things. Now that I have a team, I make them do the same thing and sit in every part of the company and learn the business. You’ll be a way better lawyer if you understand all facets of the business.”
One thing lawyers have to do as they transition to business adviser, she says, is to “let go of some of that traditional way of legal thinking. You have to understand risk, but have a willingness to take risk. You’re one of the decision-makers. You have to deal with that risk.”
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