Jolen
Senior Employment Counsel
Legal
Everyone Can Have an Impact
“Because of Visa’s global reach and high- brand recognition, I just assumed there would be so many layers. One person couldn’t possibly have an impact,” Jolen remembers.
“However, once I was engaged in the company and the Legal department, it quickly became clear just how much each individual’s efforts make a difference. Visa was far more accessible than I had imagined.”
Jolen’s first experience with Visa was as an attorney working at a law firm that was representing the company in pending legal matters. She was living in Chicago at the time and spent a summer working in the Visa legal department on a variety of projects. At the end of the summer, Visa extended an offer for a full-time position. That meant leaving Chicago for San Francisco, a move that was hard at the time, but Jolen now loves living in the Bay Area.
“Originally, I started with Visa working in litigation support. Then I expanded my focus and began providing legal support for projects in human resources, marketing, risk, compliance and product. It was great to be able to work on projects that extended beyond my background. It allowed me to broaden my legal skills and knowledge. I also enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about Visa products and services.”
Uniting a Global Workforce
Among Jolen’s most interesting challenges at Visa was working with other members of the legal department to implement new polices and procedures required as a result of the Company’s IPO. A number of materials had to be created, consolidated or redrafted. “It’s been exhilarating, implementing change on this scale.”
Jolen has also been involved in Visa’s many unique programs, from participating in Visa’s diversity efforts by working with the employee affinity groups or assisting in efforts to establish a company mentoring program. “A small group of employees championed the mentoring initiative, with Human Resources providing support for a vendor who would help us match participants. As a result, we successfully launched year-long pilot program.”
Now a year into the IPO, Jolen believes there’s still much to look forward to. “There’s a lot of work to be done yet, and it’s really exciting to see the challenges Visa is taking on. The company just keeps getting better.”
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