VM Spotlight: Meet Jennifer Maguire
Hello! Thank you for supporting VM and reading our newsletters. Whether you are a longtime friend, esteemed acquaintance, trusted client, respected colleague, or have just stumbled upon our investigations law firm, we are happy you are here! To show our appreciation, we want to properly introduce ourselves. Each month, we will be highlighting different members of our team, so you can learn all about who we are both inside and outside of the workplace and campus investigations field.
This month, we are delighted to put the VM Spotlight on our Chief Operating Officer, Jennifer “Jen” Maguire. Jen has been with the Firm for 6 years. During that time, she has helped the Firm grow and develop in many different ways. Whether it’s strategic planning, leadership and management or growing our Team by over 60%, Jen does it all with a smile. Her leadership and compassion are two of the many reasons VM is such a wonderful place to work. Outside of the Firm, Jen is a wife, mother and active member in her community. Jen is passionate about animal welfare and fighting hunger in our local communities.
We are very grateful to Jen for her many contributions to the Firm as both an outstanding leader and a wonderful coworker. She was able to take a few minutes out of her busy schedule to sit down and chat with Emma Newton, VM’s Administrative Specialist. To learn more about Jen, you can read her interview below.
EN: What do you love most about the work we do?
JM: I enjoy the diversity of the work we do and it’s never the same thing day to day. There is constantly something new to learn.
EN: What do you love most about your position specifically?
JM: I get to have a role in so many facets in the company – HR to management and governance to IT – everything top to bottom.
EN: What is the biggest challenge you face on a consistent basis? How do you overcome it?
JM: Having so many ideas and trying to implement them all at once while being realistic with my time and bandwidth. To overcome it, I take a step back and look at the landscape, deciding what is mission critical in the moment.
EN: What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
JM: Helping to bring the Firm from a small sized law firm to a mid-sized law firm in the six years I’ve been here. I’m proud of the amount of growth and development the firm has accomplished.
EN: At our Firm, what are you the most grateful for?
JM: The collaborative nature of the workplace; that our team truly cares about each other and that it is genuine.
EN: What is your definition of teamwork?
JM: Where the group works together collaboratively for the benefit of the Firm but also the success of the individual team members.
EN: What skill that others have do you wish you could master?
JM: Prioritization, being able to shut off everything else but the one task at hand.
EN: What kind of impression do you hope you leave on others?
JM: I think that you can be a caring and compassionate leader. No matter your role in an organization, to treat your coworkers with compassion and understanding. Everybody’s role matters; there is not a single insignificant role on the team.
EN: What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
JM: I went to law school, but in the end, decided I wanted to take a different path.
EN: Where is your favorite place in the world? What was your favorite vacation?
JM: My favorite place is Carmel and I love to vacation there with my family.
EN: What do you think it means to be successful?
JM: To spend your life engaging in work and activities that you enjoy and bring purpose to your life while surrounding yourself with excellent people who support and uplift you.
EN: What piece of advice you have received has been the most influential?
JM: Learn to pick your battles. I used to want to tackle every little thing early in my career. I had a COO who advised me to learn to pick my battles and decide what is truly the top priority that needs to be addressed. Look at the bigger picture.
EN: What is an essential part of your daily routine?
JM: Besides coffee? Coffee and getting some form of exercise – exercise class or walking.
We are very grateful for Jen’s leadership and management of our team and for taking the time out to chat with Emma. Come back next month for April’s edition of VM Spotlight and meet another member of our valued team.
Check out Jen’s choices in March’s VM Recommends, our monthly article on what you should be reading, watching or listening to.