Team size: 45 (across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific) 

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that you have recently been involved in?   

 The vision of Cox Automotive is to transform the way the world buys, sells, owns and uses vehicles. Over the last few years, we have been in the process of doing a lot of acquisitions and a number of divestments towards achieving this vision. Most recently our acquisitions, investments and expansion has focused on the digitisation of the wholesale and retail car buying and selling process; the changing trend in relation to vehicle ownership, from individuals to more fleets which need to be serviced, repaired, and supported; and finally in the area electric vehicle battery solutions such as battery health measurement, valuation and life cycle management. Our strategy is very much focused on the future of the automotive industry. It is an exciting time to be part of Cox Automotive. 

The unusual business environment created by the pandemic has been swiftly followed by other shocks. Are you now putting more emphasis on preparing for the unforeseen and, if so, what does this entail?   

Cox Automotive reacted and adapted very quickly to the unusual business environment created by the pandemic. Early in March 2020, we sent everybody home to work remotely. As with most companies we thought it would be for a short period, but that was of course not the case. The company and our teams adjusted well to full time remote work, as many people already had some form of flexibility in their work schedules, and we have great IT support. We formed a Pandemic Task Force (which was in place up until late 2022) to help guide and manage through the crisis. Myself and others in the legal team spent a significant part of our time helping the business work through all sort of mainly business challenges (rather than legal) that arose as a result of the pandemic. At times, our days and weeks were completely consumed dealing with pandemic issues. In the later part 2022 we commenced the process of return to the office. However, as of today most employees work at least a couple of days remotely. Not only has the way we work and the amount of time we spend at the office changed, but the way our business runs has changed significantly and unlikely to go back to the way it was. For example, our auction business in the early days of the pandemic went from 70% in person auctions to 100% digital auctions overnight. As of today, over 75% of our auction transactions are still digital, which is a significant change from 2020. Also, the motor vehicle and the car dealer industry became much less hesitant and resistant to technology adoption, so our business has become even more technology and software focused.  Since the pandemic we have indeed placed more focus and importance on enterprise risk management and business continuity planning to prepare for the unexpected.  

What are you passionate about?   

 I have a couple of different passions. I am very passionate about learning and education, particularly schooling for children with learning differences. I have been on the board of one of the local schools here for 12 years, because my two eldest children have some learning differences and challenges. As a result of my children being at the right school and getting great learning support, they have been able to excel and be very successful academically and socially. My daughter is now in her second year of college and my eldest son is about to complete year 12 and go onto college. I believe every child should be able to have a good education regardless of whether they are a traditional learner or have learning challenges. I am also an advocate that all children should have the opportunity to develop good reading habits and skills and I have been involved as a member of the board of the International Dyslexia Association for the last six years.  My other passions include the support and development of my legal team (and mentoring others in our business) so they can excel to be the best possible lawyers and business partners that they can be. I also think mental health in the legal professional is an extremely important issue that needs more attention, as the rate of mental illness in the legal profession seems to be exponentially higher than in a lot of other professions.