Profile

I supervise 6 people: 3 attorneys, 2 paralegals and an assistant. I review all sorts of contracts that the company needs to do its business (buying things, selling things). I help with buying other businesses/assets. I manage board meetings. I work with HR on compensation matters. I help the company comply with securities and other laws. Sounds dull, but it’s actually really fun.

I get up at 5:30 and run on my treadmill and catch up on mindless television programs. I get ready and talk to my daughters and then leave the house at about 7:45. I have the world’s best commute, so I’m at work by 7:55. I work on contracts and problems and various other things that arise. I talk to a lot of people. I go to meetings and talk to my subordinates about things they are working on. I go home at lunch or go out with friends. After lunch, same as in the morning. I generally get out at 7 or so. I head home after that, play with and help the girls get ready for bed. Talk to my husband and go to sleep.

Organization; assertiveness; communication skills generally.

8 to 7 plus blackberry in off-hours. Some weekends.

A couple of times a year.

I love the people I work with. I really enjoy being continually challenged and learning new things all the time. My job is never the same, one day to the next.

I wish I had another day a week, which I could spend with my girls and husband.

My girls.

My grandma and my mom. Both working moms, both very smart, funny women who faced a lot of challenges in very different ways.

Never do anything you wouldn’t want the whole world to know about. Also, in the final analysis, all you really have are your principles and dignity, so preserve and protect both.

“You should be a weather girl.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with reporting the weather - it was more the tone and the use of the word “girl” to a then-20-year-old.)

Be yourself and don’t underestimate your own achievements. Ask lots of questions and find mentors, friends and family who support your dreams. Don’t tolerate anyone telling you that you can’t or you aren’t good enough. Anyone who tells you those things isn’t your friend and isn’t worth your time.

Hmmm. No, not really. If I changed anything, I might not have ended up where I am.

I have worked hard and been very lucky. I came from a family where my parents assumed I would go to college and grad school. I worked my way through school and got scholarships and later loans. After that, I chose jobs based on how much I liked the people who interviewed me, as much as the opportunity itself.

I went to grad school in Sociology, where I was a research assistant, a teaching assistant (along with various and sundry other part-time jobs to make ends meet). I took the LSAT, scored well and applied to law schools. I worked at a couple of law firms and then moved in-house to Valero Energy in 2003. NuStar was spun off of Valero in 2006, and I moved with NuStar’s general counsel to NuStar’s legal department. I was promoted again in 2007, when I was pregnant with my second daughter, to Assistant General Counsel. In February 2009, I was made Corporate Secretary.

I thought that the legal profession would offer order, autonomy and career choices. I’m also pretty judgmental, frankly, which is both a good and a bad thing, depending on context.

I have a neurological disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia that makes me somewhat difficult to understand. I haven’t overcome it so much as learned ways of dealing with it.

Gosh, I think the other questions have pretty much gotten all the interesting stuff. Other than: marrying my husband was the best decisions I’ve ever made. He’s wonderful, supportive and a great daddy.