Senior Leadership Symposium: Engaging Discussions for Executives
**Please kindly note that this event is by invitation only and is tailored for senior executives. Invitations will be extended to attendees of the Women in Chemicals Conference who hold the position of Vice President or higher. These invitations will be sent to the email addresses provided during registration.
Session Summary: Step into a realm of unparalleled leadership refinement at the invite-only Senior Leadership Symposium. Exclusively curated for Vice Presidents and senior executives, this symposium offers more than just a platform—it's a sanctuary for profound conversations and transformative knowledge exchange. Here, amidst an atmosphere charged with innovation and camaraderie, attendees will have the opportunity to delve deep into the nuances of leadership, gain fresh perspectives, and forge invaluable connections that transcend the confines of the symposium.
Format: Immerse yourself in small group discussions comprising 8 – 10 industry peers. Upon arrival, each participant will contribute a thought-provoking discussion topic on a slip of paper. These topics will be randomly selected by session facilitator, Vanessa Sutherland, who will briefly infuse insights (3 – 5 min) drawn from both personal and professional journeys.
Discussion Flow: Following Vanessa’s introduction, groups will engage in lively discussions for 15 – 17 minutes, exploring the selected topic from various angles. This process will be repeated for three separate topics throughout the session.
Participant Role: Your voice matters. As a participant, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the discourse. Share your insights, challenge assumptions, and collaborate with fellow leaders to uncover innovative solutions to industry challenges.
Vanessa Allen Sutherland
Vanessa Allen Sutherland, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Fortune 50 Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), is a former U.S. Senate-confirmed political appointee with over 25 years of private and public sector experience, focusing on helping publicly traded companies increase their value through culture transformation, strategic discipline, continuous improvement, risk management and talent management. She holds a law degree, Master of Business Administration (IT) and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional.
Prior to Phillips 66, she was the Chief Legal Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation with responsibility for Audit and Compliance, Law, Government Relations, Corporate Secretary, Claims, Insurance Risk Management, Information Governance and Environmental Remediation, with over 130 professionals. Sutherland joined Norfolk Southern as vice president law in June 2018, subsequently being promoted to senior vice president, chief legal officer in April 2019 and then to senior vice president, government relations and chief legal officer in August 2019. In 2020, she was promoted to executive vice president and chief legal officer, ultimately adding audit and compliance to her portfolio in July 2021.
Immediately prior, she served in a presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed position as chief executive officer and chairperson of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in Washington, D.C. from 2015-2018. She also served as an appointee as chief counsel with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Engaging on issues such as transportation safety of Ebola and crude oil or United Nations meetings about lithium battery safety, she worked collaboratively with government agencies, Congress, trade associations, unions, companies, research labs, tribal nations, first responders, standards developing organizations, communities and public relations.
The majority of Sutherland’s career has been in corporations, including roles as counsel with Philip Morris USA (NYSE: MO) and senior counsel with Phillip Morris’ affiliate Altria Client Services. Sutherland began work as a corporate attorney at long-distance phone company MCI (now NYSE: VZ) but moved to MCI subsidiary Digex, where she served first as counsel, then as senior counsel and then vice president and deputy general counsel. Digex was one of the successful IPOs in then-nascent webhosting and outsourcing, before its parent company WorldCom disclosed the then-largest accounting scandal in history.
Sutherland is the recipient of legal and non-legal awards, including Top 25 General Counsel of 2023, 2021 Most Influential Black Corporate Directors, National Diversity Council’s Power 50 List, Corporate Counsel Magazine – “Best Of” Law Departments, three U.S. Secretary of Transportation Awards, Virginia Lawyers Weekly "Leaders in the Law" Award, the University of Richmond “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Award,” Jack and Jill of America – Distinguished Mother of the Year, March of Dimes - Virginia top fundraiser.