My CEO: Marina Park's New Job at the Girl Scouts

My wife's new job was announced today.  Marina has been at a law firm now called Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for about 25 years -- she started there as a summer associate in law school.  Her last job there was an 8 year stint as firm-wide managing partner.  By the time her stint ended, Pillsbury had almost 1000 lawyers.  Marina worked with firm Chair Mary Cranston as the first women to lead one of the 100 largest law firms in the country.

Marina's new job is CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts.  Quite a switch! 

This was not a rash decision.  I was taken with how Marina went about deciding what she wanted to next, as it was so systematic, yet had such a large emotional component. She worked with an executive coach to develop a deeper understanding of what her strengths were, and especially, the kind of work that gave her the most satisfaction.  Marina considered everything from going to back to practicing law, to being a general counsel at a big public company, to becoming a law firm strategy consultant, to retiring. She even talked about getting a herd of goats and making goat cheese (Marina's favorite childhood pet was a goat). 

The themes that kept coming-up, however, were that she wanted to do something that gave back to others, that made use of her considerable leadership and management skills, and that helped women become more confident and successful.  Marina has done volunteer work for the Girl Scouts over the years and first heard about the job about a month ago. Marina immediately was very interested in the job because it fit so well with the kind of person she is and wanted to become.

Marina's search for a job that fit her sense of self reminded a bit of Gretchen's Rubin's Happiness Project, Marina devoted a lot of energy to thinking about what made her happy and where she could do the most good by her standards, not the standards that others held for her.   Marina never compared herself to others during her journey and barely considered pay differences between different possible jobs in making the decision -- something that is tough for most human beings to do. Marina is sad about leaving a firm that she has worked at so long and where she has so many friends, but is very excited about her new job.

Here is the press release. And yes, you will see pleas on this blog to buy Girl Scout cookies in the future!

 

Breaking News!

Girl Scouts of Northern California Appoint Marina H. Park as new CEO

Please click here to download the official press release

The Council Realignment Committee is continuing its work in the hope that we will all be together in the merger with our sisters from all five Girl Scout Councils on October 1, 2007.

Our biggest step in moving forward is the hiring of our new CEO. We are excited to announce that we have named Marina H. Park as the new Chief Executive Officer for Girl Scouts of Northern California effective November 1. Marina joins the Girl Scouts of Northern California from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, a leading law firm. At Pillsbury, Marina served as managing partner, one of the highest-level positions, and worked to establish Pillsbury as a recognizable law firm for women attorneys, lawyers of color, and lawyers of diverse sexual orientation.

With professional and personal connections throughout Northern California, Marina, a former Girl Scout, will help bring girls from rural, suburban and urban areas together under the newly formed Girl Scouts of Northern California.

Marina is no stranger to the importance of a volunteer-based organization. She began her career serving as a Vista Volunteer. Marina also has first-hand leadership experience as a volunteer herself in the Girl Scout community. As one of the founding mentors of Camp CEO, Marina shared the vision and devoted her time to bringing life-changing opportunities to high school girls in our underserved communities.

“I have seen the Girl Scout community make a real difference for the girls who participate,” said Park. “Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization that helps change the world, one girl at a time.”

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

Bob,just found your blog - in a search for relevant content to link to for my client, Lee Thayer. He writes a leadership blog.

I'm impressed by your wonderful wife's decision to take this new path - one that sounds fulfilling and exciting and - comforting. I say comforting because girls need role models like Marina. The Girl Scouts are lucky to have her on board.

Looks like the two of you contribute a lot of positive energy to all the right things. Glad I landed here, yesterday.

[Pam]

I love seeing examples of people who have moved into careers that let them do work that is meaningful and fulfilling to them. Congrats to your wife!

[Shauna Axton]

Bob -

Congratulations to your wife! I subscribe to your blog and was surprised to read this post because I am a planner at Mortar, the agency that handles PR and brand development for the Girl Scouts of the Bay Area (soon to be Northern CA). We're wrapping up an in-depth exploration of their brand and marketing strategy and I'm excited for the opportunity to work with Marina in the near future.

Best,
Shauna

[Pete Abilla]

I love girl scout cookies -- Samoas are the best and, yes, congratulations to your wife.

[Rick Hamrick]

Bob--

Please pass my congratulations to your lovely wife for so embodying the positive characteristics we all hope to see in executives. And, of course, her successful effort to find work which she believes will best fulfill her and allow her to contribute in such a wonderful fashion is such a great message for all of us!

Needless to say, you deserve congratulations, too. You clearly married up, Bob!

(you cannot see it from there, but I am grinning widely)

Rick