How we Ensure Legal is a Partner (and Not a Hindrance) to Speed and Agility at Smucker

Presented by Jeannette Knudsen, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

When I joined The J.M. Smucker Co. I was only the second in-house lawyer at the Company. Today our team has grown along with the business to oversee legal, regulatory, compliance, and enterprise risk management. We have grown the team thoughtfully to address the needs of the business and that commitment continues to motivate how we operate each day.

I am proud to lead a team that not only has extensive expertise and talent but is committed to work with the areas of the business to ensure we understand objectives and issues holistically and make our collaboration as seamless as possible. While there is a well-worn view of legal being a hindrance to speed and the ability to take strategic risks, that is simply not the case at Smucker.

Here are a few of the steps we take to realize this:  

• Our team is integrated into the planning process early on so that we can understand objectives, dynamics and challenges and provide guidance at the outset. This allows for more successful and efficient support as our team can build a workflow and adjust as the project progresses. In addition, by integrating the team early we can work through potential issues that can hamper progress later on.
• Along with having a strong collaborative process, our team has developed a user-friendly system to make it easy for the business to engage us as needed. This includes clarifying the most appropriate contacts, creating centers of excellence, providing clear direction on what details we will need to support a project and offering convenient tools to share this necessary information.
• Our team is constantly monitoring the progress of decisions and evolutions of regulations. Leveraging partners, we ensure we are up-to-speed on issues relating to our industry, remain proactive, and can advise the business on matters that are relevant to their work and future plans.  

I could not be prouder of our team or appreciative of their dedication, talent and passion for our business. They are a shining example of the Smucker culture and the belief that by working together we can achieve amazing things.