R3 Group | Jane DiRenzo Pigott


Jane DiRenzo Pigott Ms. Pigott is Managing Director of R3 Group LLC and specializes in providing leadership, change and diversity/inclusion consulting to organizations. Her services enhance an organization's competitive edge by allowing the organization to utilize, retain and promote more fully its key human resource assets. She approaches leadership, change and inclusion strategically and produces measurable results towards her clients' goals and objectives. Her clients include professional service firms, corporations and universities. From 1993 until 2002, Ms. Pigott served as the Chair of the global Environmental Law practice group at Winston & Strawn, one of the largest global law firms. Prior to that, Ms. Pigott was Chair of the Environmental Law Department at the firm now known as Katten Muchin Rosenman. In those capacities, she provided creative solutions to expensive technical issues in an intensely regulated arena. Additionally, she was instrumental in the creation and/or modification of the firms' work place harassment and flexible hours policies. At Winston, she served as the Relationship Manager for the firm's third largest client. In that role, she developed and implemented innovative strategic partnering that resulted in win-win financial solutions, thus becoming a role model for other firm/client relationships, and improving the client-service model on a firm-wide basis. She was a standing participant in major client acquisition teams. Prior to being a partner at these large global law firms, she was employed by MidCon Corp., the natural gas transmission subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum. There she created strategies for managing significant litigation and material business risks. At Winston & Strawn, Ms. Pigott served on the firm's Executive Committee, the first woman to do so, and its Compensation Committee, the committees responsible for managing the firm's employees across the globe and establishing the compensation for all of the firm's attorneys. While at Winston, Ms. Pigott created and chaired the firm's Diversity Initiative, rendering the firm a leader among its peers and dramatically improving recruitment, retention and promotion of attorneys. Under Ms. Pigott's leadership, the firm won three of the coveted Sager Awards for its Diversity Programs from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. In addition, a number of outside organizations positively recognized Winston's diversity efforts. For example, in the Chicago Lawyer and Minority Law Journal diversity surveys, Winston ranked in the top decile. Ms. Pigott was instrumental in helping Winston to be recognized in the June 2001 issue of Diversity & the Bar as one of five firms profiled in connection with best diversity practices, and in Vault's 2001 "Guide to America's Top 100 Law Firms" where Winston ranked second nationally in the "Best 20 Firms to Work For" category and was listed as No. 1 in the retention and office categories. Ms. Pigott serves as an independent director of MetLife Investment Funds, Inc., a mutual fund company headquartered in New York, New York. She has served as Chair of this Board's Governance and Audit Committees. She is also a director and Chair of the Audit Committee of 3E Company, a private company based in Carlsbad, California, that provides outsourced environmental, health and safety services to its clients. Ms. Pigott is an active leader in civic organizations. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Northwestern University. She is the former chair of the Board of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, now serving as the Chair of its Nominating Committee. She serves on the Advisory Board for the University of North Carolina Law School's Civil Rights Center. She serves on the Board of the Senior Business Women's Forum and the Midwest AIDS Foundation. Ms. Pigott also serves on the Board of Reading in Motion, an organization that enhances the reading readiness of children in the Chicago Public School system. In addition, she is a member of The Chicago Network, an exclusive group of the most senior women in the Chicago area. She currently sits on the Network's Census Committee, which publishes an annual survey of the women leaders in the top 50 Chicago publicly held corporations. In 2000, Ms. Pigott received the Chicago Bar Association's Alliance for Women Founder's Award for excellence in the profession and her contributions to the advancement of women in the profession. She was the co-Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Alliance for Women, 2004-2005. During her tenure as co-Chair, the Chicago Bar Association approved a Call to Action on women in leadership in the legal profession, www.chicagobar.org/calltoaction. The Call to Action received the National Conference of Women's Bar Association's National Public Service Award in August 2005. In conjunction with this Call to Action, she co-founded the Alliance for Women's Women Leadership Institute, a program focused on success strategies for women attorneys. In October 2006, Ms. Pigott was a panelist speaker for a discussion entitled "Women in Negotiation" sponsored by Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women and JAMS. Ms. Pigott is an active speaker and author on management, diversity and substantive topics. She has spoken and presented papers at a wide variety of venues, including twice before the United Nations in conferences held in Paris, France. Her most recent speaking engagements include: a session on "Gender in the Workplace" for the Ethical Leadership and Decision Making class at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in July 2007; a presentation entitled "Effective Self Promotion" for the Illinois CPA Society in May 2007; participation in a panel discussion entitled "Giving Back" for Kellogg Women Business Association Conference in April 2007; a presentation entitled "Retention, Promotion and Recruitment: Sustainability for the Future" at the Employers Counsel Network Conference in April 2007; a presentation entitled "Developing Talented Lawyers: Who is Focused on your Long-Term Interests?" at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's 6th Annual CLE Expo in March 2007; participation in the closing keynote session "A Leak in the Talent Pipeline: What HR Must do to Retain Female and Minority Executives" at the Strategic HR Leadership Summit in March 2007; a presentation entitled "The Rules of the Game" for Motorola Women's Business Council in March 2007; a presentation entitled "What Gets Measured Gets Changed" for the National Association of Law Placement Diversity Conference in March 2007; the keynote address entitled "Embracing Challenges, Capitalizing on Opportunities" at the University of North Carolina Women in the Legal Profession symposium in March 2007; a presentation entitled "Women and Leadership" for Commercial Real Estate Executive Women of Chicago's Leadership Development Series in February 2007; a presentation entitled "Women, Leadership and the Work Environment" for Loyola University Gannon Center for Women and Leadership lecture series in February 2007; participation on a panel at the United States Law Firm Group Annual Meeting regarding Retention and Attrition in January 2007; moderator for "The Whys and Hows of Diversity Training" live teleconference and webcast sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Business Law Today in October 2006; and a presentation entitled "Can You Have it All?, Balance and Quality of Life: Reduced Schedule Arrangements" for American Bar Association Franchising Forum's Women's Caucus in October 2006. Ms. Pigott also publishes on topics related to leadership, diversity and retention. Her article entitled "Affinity Groups: Tools for Retention" was published in the Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report in August 2007. She was quoted in an article entitled "Stand Up and Be Counted" which appeared in the August 2007 issue of Corporate Counsel. She was quoted in an article entitled "Risky Business - When Your Health Becomes Married to Your Job" which appeared in the August 2007 issue of Today's Chicago Woman. She was quoted in an article entitled "Do Women and Minority GC's Settle for Less?" which appeared in the July 2007 issue of Law.com's In-House Counsel. Her article entitled "Articulating the Business Case for Inclusion" appeared in the June 2007 issue of Illinois State Bar Association Diversity Matters Newsletter. Ms. Pigott wrote a chapter entitled "The Rules of This Game" for the book Presumed Equal: What America's Top Women Lawyers Really Think About Their Firms, published in September 2006. Her article entitled "Teaching Can Help: Diversity Training at Your Law Firm" was published in the Sept/Oct 2006 American Bar Association's Business Law Today. Her article entitled "Walk the Talk: Creating an Inclusive Legal Workplace" was published in the Fall/Winter 2004 edition of Minority Trial Lawyer. Part II of this article was published in the Spring 2005 edition of Minority Trial Lawyer. In addition, she has written several diversity blogs, which can be found at www.lawdepartmentmanagement.typepad.com. Ms. Pigott received a BA from the University of Virginia and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School. Ms. Pigott can be reached at R3 Group LLC, One North LaSalle Street, Suite 1904, Chicago, Illinois 60602, phone: (312) 628-4743, fax: (312) 628-4745, e-mail: jdpigott@r3group.net.

Jane DiRenzo Pigott

Ms. Pigott is Managing Director of R3 Group LLC and specializes in providing leadership, change and diversity/inclusion consulting to organizations. Her services enhance an organization's competitive edge by allowing the organization to utilize, retain and promote more fully its key human resource assets. She approaches leadership, change and inclusion strategically and produces measurable results towards her clients' goals and objectives. Her clients include professional service firms, corporations and universities.

From 1993 until 2002, Ms. Pigott served as the Chair of the global Environmental Law practice group at Winston & Strawn, one of the largest global law firms. Prior to that, Ms. Pigott was Chair of the Environmental Law Department at the firm now known as Katten Muchin Rosenman. In those capacities, she provided creative solutions to expensive technical issues in an intensely regulated arena. Additionally, she was instrumental in the creation and/or modification of the firms' work place harassment and flexible hours policies. At Winston, she served as the Relationship Manager for the firm's third largest client. In that role, she developed and implemented innovative strategic partnering that resulted in win-win financial solutions, thus becoming a role model for other firm/client relationships, and improving the client-service model on a firm-wide basis. She was a standing participant in major client acquisition teams. Prior to being a partner at these large global law firms, she was employed by MidCon Corp., the natural gas transmission subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum. There she created strategies for managing significant litigation and material business risks.

At Winston & Strawn, Ms. Pigott served on the firm's Executive Committee, the first woman to do so, and its Compensation Committee, the committees responsible for managing the firm's employees across the globe and establishing the compensation for all of the firm's attorneys. While at Winston, Ms. Pigott created and chaired the firm's Diversity Initiative, rendering the firm a leader among its peers and dramatically improving recruitment, retention and promotion of attorneys. Under Ms. Pigott's leadership, the firm won three of the coveted Sager Awards for its Diversity Programs from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. In addition, a number of outside organizations positively recognized Winston's diversity efforts. For example, in the Chicago Lawyer and Minority Law Journal diversity surveys, Winston ranked in the top decile. Ms. Pigott was instrumental in helping Winston to be recognized in the June 2001 issue of Diversity & the Bar as one of five firms profiled in connection with best diversity practices, and in Vault's 2001 "Guide to America's Top 100 Law Firms" where Winston ranked second nationally in the "Best 20 Firms to Work For" category and was listed as No. 1 in the retention and office categories.

Ms. Pigott serves as an independent director of MetLife Investment Funds, Inc., a mutual fund company headquartered in New York, New York. She has served as Chair of this Board's Governance and Audit Committees. She is also a director and Chair of the Audit Committee of 3E Company, a private company based in Carlsbad, California, that provides outsourced environmental, health and safety services to its clients.

Ms. Pigott is an active leader in civic organizations. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Northwestern University. She is the former chair of the Board of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, now serving as the Chair of its Nominating Committee. She serves on the Advisory Board for the University of North Carolina Law School's Civil Rights Center. She serves on the Board of the Senior Business Women's Forum and the Midwest AIDS Foundation. Ms. Pigott also serves on the Board of Reading in Motion, an organization that enhances the reading readiness of children in the Chicago Public School system. In addition, she is a member of The Chicago Network, an exclusive group of the most senior women in the Chicago area. She currently sits on the Network's Census Committee, which publishes an annual survey of the women leaders in the top 50 Chicago publicly held corporations.

In 2000, Ms. Pigott received the Chicago Bar Association's Alliance for Women Founder's Award for excellence in the profession and her contributions to the advancement of women in the profession. She was the co-Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Alliance for Women, 2004-2005. During her tenure as co-Chair, the Chicago Bar Association approved a Call to Action on women in leadership in the legal profession, www.chicagobar.org/calltoaction. The Call to Action received the National Conference of Women's Bar Association's National Public Service Award in August 2005. In conjunction with this Call to Action, she co-founded the Alliance for Women's Women Leadership Institute, a program focused on success strategies for women attorneys. In October 2006, Ms. Pigott was a panelist speaker for a discussion entitled "Women in Negotiation" sponsored by Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women and JAMS.

Ms. Pigott is an active speaker and author on management, diversity and substantive topics. She has spoken and presented papers at a wide variety of venues, including twice before the United Nations in conferences held in Paris, France. Her most recent speaking engagements include: a session on "Gender in the Workplace" for the Ethical Leadership and Decision Making class at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in July 2007; a presentation entitled "Effective Self Promotion" for the Illinois CPA Society in May 2007; participation in a panel discussion entitled "Giving Back" for Kellogg Women Business Association Conference in April 2007; a presentation entitled "Retention, Promotion and Recruitment: Sustainability for the Future" at the Employers Counsel Network Conference in April 2007; a presentation entitled "Developing Talented Lawyers: Who is Focused on your Long-Term Interests?" at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's 6th Annual CLE Expo in March 2007; participation in the closing keynote session "A Leak in the Talent Pipeline: What HR Must do to Retain Female and Minority Executives" at the Strategic HR Leadership Summit in March 2007; a presentation entitled "The Rules of the Game" for Motorola Women's Business Council in March 2007; a presentation entitled "What Gets Measured Gets Changed" for the National Association of Law Placement Diversity Conference in March 2007; the keynote address entitled "Embracing Challenges, Capitalizing on Opportunities" at the University of North Carolina Women in the Legal Profession symposium in March 2007; a presentation entitled "Women and Leadership" for Commercial Real Estate Executive Women of Chicago's Leadership Development Series in February 2007; a presentation entitled "Women, Leadership and the Work Environment" for Loyola University Gannon Center for Women and Leadership lecture series in February 2007; participation on a panel at the United States Law Firm Group Annual Meeting regarding Retention and Attrition in January 2007; moderator for "The Whys and Hows of Diversity Training" live teleconference and webcast sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Business Law Today in October 2006; and a presentation entitled "Can You Have it All?, Balance and Quality of Life: Reduced Schedule Arrangements" for American Bar Association Franchising Forum's Women's Caucus in October 2006.

Ms. Pigott also publishes on topics related to leadership, diversity and retention. Her article entitled "Affinity Groups: Tools for Retention" was published in the Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report in August 2007. She was quoted in an article entitled "Stand Up and Be Counted" which appeared in the August 2007 issue of Corporate Counsel. She was quoted in an article entitled "Risky Business - When Your Health Becomes Married to Your Job" which appeared in the August 2007 issue of Today's Chicago Woman. She was quoted in an article entitled "Do Women and Minority GC's Settle for Less?" which appeared in the July 2007 issue of Law.com's In-House Counsel. Her article entitled "Articulating the Business Case for Inclusion" appeared in the June 2007 issue of Illinois State Bar Association Diversity Matters Newsletter. Ms. Pigott wrote a chapter entitled "The Rules of This Game" for the book Presumed Equal: What America's Top Women Lawyers Really Think About Their Firms, published in September 2006. Her article entitled "Teaching Can Help: Diversity Training at Your Law Firm" was published in the Sept/Oct 2006 American Bar Association's Business Law Today. Her article entitled "Walk the Talk: Creating an Inclusive Legal Workplace" was published in the Fall/Winter 2004 edition of Minority Trial Lawyer. Part II of this article was published in the Spring 2005 edition of Minority Trial Lawyer. In addition, she has written several diversity blogs, which can be found at www.lawdepartmentmanagement.typepad.com.

Ms. Pigott received a BA from the University of Virginia and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School.

Ms. Pigott can be reached at R3 Group LLC, One North LaSalle Street, Suite 1904, Chicago, Illinois 60602, phone: (312) 628-4743, fax: (312) 628-4745, e-mail: jdpigott@r3group.net.