CFO Studio Magazine - Curt Allen, CFO, Subaru

1st QUARTER 2015 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 31 A s many CFOs can attest, C-level executives are spending more and more time working on business strategy across all functions of the business. This is also true for a growing number of General Counsels (GCs). They are looked upon as leaders by nearly every department of an organization, from human resources to finance to sales. However, there are limits to how GCs can support or contribute to operational matters. Recently, a group of esteemed general counsels and other executives gathered at The Capital Grille in Paramus, NJ, to discuss over dinner the topic: “Are General Counsels Becoming Chief Operating Officers?” The discussion was led by Richard Wingate, Esq., vice president and general counsel of LG Electronics USA, Inc. Wingate kicked off the conversation by defining the role of a COO. “The COO, as I discovered, often is a poorly defined role,” said Wingate. “The best thing I was able to grab from all the research I did is that the CEO lays out the strategy and the COO, who is more focused on tactics, carries out the CEO’s strategy at a high level.” From information technology to human resources to marketing, GCs have day-to-day interaction with multiple functions — and in this regard, they have a role similar to the COO’s. “Since we agreed there’s no consistent definition of a COO, I like to think that one O stands for ‘organizing’ and one O stands for ‘officer,’” said James Marks, Esq., vice president and general counsel for Dassault Falcon Jet, which sells and Are General Counsels Becoming COOs? Chief counsels debate the shifting line between legal and operations in many of today’s corporations CFO STUDIO EXECUTIVE DINNER SERIES L. to R.: Mark Goldberg with Rick Wingate, who moderated L. to R.: Mark Decker, Ronald Schwartzman David Carp “YOUR ROLE AS AN IN-HOUSE LAWYER SOMETIMES IS TO CONNECT PEOPLE AND IDEAS.” — JAMES MARKS Photography: Jibran Aslam BY DARIA MEOLI