Linda Lucas has been gunning for the role of chief executive since she was 17, and this year, not only was such a job created for her, but it also was offered in an industry that’s typically CEO-averse.
“It was kind of funny because one of the partners said: ‘You mean you’re not the CEO? I thought you were,’” said Lucas, who served as chief operating officer of Vancouver-based law firm Roper Greyell LLP for more than a year and a half before her promotion to CEO in March.
It’s uncommon to see a chief executive leading the operations of a law firm in Canada.
According to Lucas, that’s in part because for such a model to be effective, it requires company partners to cede a level of control to someone who isn’t an owner.
“Law firms have to change the way we think about the way we do business,” she said. “And that is a big focus of what we’re doing.”
As would be typical in other sectors when a company brings in a new CEO, Lucas was hired to develop and now oversee the firm’s strategic plan, which, while tightly under wraps, outlines the organization’s goals for the next three years.
And while the formal title of CEO was previously missing from her resumé – as is a university degree, of which she is a mere six courses shy – Lucas has extensive experience when it comes to strategically shaking things up.
In fact, Lucas’ life and career have been an exercise in adapting to and thriving on change – in seeking new opportunities, taking risks or shifting the way business looks at business.
Much of that was shaped by her upbringing.
“I’m a military brat,” said Lucas, who has lived in 25 homes across four countries. “Me living abroad is not unusual.”
At this stage, a deviation from the norm for Lucas would be staying in one place or in one role for long, though there are stretches of staying put that stand out on her varied CV.
Seeing her father undergo a lot of training in the accounting world ultimately compelled Lucas to pursue, at age 25, her certified management accountant designation, now part of the chartered professional accountant certification. She followed up studies at Camosun College and the University of Victoria with five years as an analyst at BC Ferries before looking once again to set sail abroad.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, someone with Lucas’ qualifications can easily secure a work permit in the Cayman Islands, where she eventually took a job as a senior accountant with Fortis MeesPierson.
“I was a complete 180 for me,” Lucas said. “When you move there, you kind of go there expecting to be sitting on the beach on your lunch hour, and going for nice long walks holding hands. It’s nothing like that at all.” She added that she probably clocked 70 hours a week over a year and a half of work.
“It was crazy; it was very, very crazy,” she said. “I learned a lot – particularly about how business was done around the world. It opened my eyes to how things can be done in other places, and guess what? North America isn’t the best way to do things.”
Over the years, Lucas has cultivated an international business outlook that enables her to approach work differently. It’s an approach that’s informed both by water-cooler anecdotes from Cayman colleagues from around the world, and her subsequent experience in the U.K. with Fortis MeesPierson and the Royal Bank of Canada, and with MNP LLP in Calgary.
Eventually Lucas landed back in B.C. At Davis LLP – now DLA Piper (Canada) LLP – Lucas set her sights on upper-level management.
“As soon as my boss left I told the COO I wanted the job,” said Lucas, who had to “earn her stripes” before getting promoted to director of finance from senior financial reporting manager.
So she re-engineered the firm’s processes and took a different, collaborative approach to culture and morale. She shook things up to the point her boss remarked the company was “like a new place.” She got the job, and the responsibility for all of Canada.
“It’s got to be a collective conversation,” Lucas said. “It’s got to be carefully laid out and balanced, but it’s got to come from the people around you – otherwise it doesn’t work.”
She took that same approach to her next role as COO of KNV Accounting – a job that she says she just knew would be her bridge to that long-coveted chief executive role.
“I was pretty comfortable where I was, and it was a risky choice,” she said. “They had never had a COO before.” She added that KNV at the time was a small partnership prior to its merger with MNP LLP, and in small, 16-person partnerships, it can be difficult for owners to let go.
“I kind of just took a leap of faith and I moved over. It was a very hard job. I spent two years re-engineering that firm with my team.”
In this case, re-engineering meant reassigning staff, rebuilding company infrastructure and critically analyzing everything the company was doing.
“We had to challenge the way we looked at the way we did business,” she said. “I was on high-blood-pressure pills at that place. But I loved it; it was the best thing I ever did.”
At KNV, Lucas ensured the 200-person, three-location business had its house in order. She also played a key role during the company’s discussions with MNP.
“Once we merged, I realized that there really wasn’t a space for me in this organization. And just around that time, Roper Greyell reached out to me and asked me if I was interested in being their COO,” she said, noting the firm had already had a chief operating officer, but not a chief executive.
“You can’t get ahead if you don’t take risks.” •
