La-Toya Hackney is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, & Secretary at Saint-Gobain North America (SGNA), where she acts as an Executive Advisor of SGNA’s LEAD (Leading Efforts for Ancestral Diversity) Employee Resource Group, advocating for an open and inclusive workplace culture for employees of all ethnic backgrounds. La-Toya also initiated a diversity internship program within SGNA’s legal department, providing talented students from diverse backgrounds with hands-on experience and mentorship opportunities.
Since 2016, La-Toya has served on the Board of Directors of WHYY, a leading public radio and television broadcasting organization in the Philadelphia tri-state area, providing strategic leadership. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Education Fund, supporting equitable access to higher education for underserved communities. Additionally, La-Toya has been engaged with Philadelphia VIP, a legal aid organization, and serves as Parliamentarian for the Philadelphia Chapter of The Links Incorporated, supporting educational and civic initiatives for the Black community.
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Alka Bahal: Welcome to the Think Factory’s Workplace Podcast, powered by OGC Solutions, the podcast where we explore the ever-evolving landscape of workplace dynamics. My name is Alka Bahal. I’m a partner with Outside General Counsel Solutions and the chair of our Corporate Immigration Services Group, and I’ll be your host today.
I am very excited to have with me here today Latoya Hackney, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Saint-Gobain, North America. Welcome to the podcast, La-Toya!
La-Toya Hackney: Thank you so much for having me.
Alka Bahal: I’m excited about our conversation today. So can you start off by telling our listeners a little bit about your current role?
La-Toya Hackney: So as you mentioned, I’m General Counsel for Saint-Gobain, North America, and basically what that means is I lead our law department for the United States and Canada. We are a full-service law department. We cover all manner of issues from litigation, M&A and transactions, labor and employment, intellectual property, also compliance and trade compliance and property and privacy, as well as security, environmental, really a full-service team.
Saint-Gobain is a 360-year-old French-listed public company. Our purpose is making the world a better home, and we are, in fact, the world’s largest building materials manufacturer.
Alka Bahal: That’s so impressive. So you’re really leading an entire law firm within the company.
La-Toya Hackney: I suppose you could look at it that way. A mini-firm, I have a team, a fantastic team, I might add. It is a privilege and honor to lead this team of 52 professionals, half of whom are lawyers, and the others are paraprofessionals, executive assistants, compliance professionals, security professionals.
Alka Bahal: So I imagine it’s a little bit different—being in-house GC vs. being an external attorney. To what extent do you find you integrate business needs and objectives into how the law department at Saint-Gobain functions?
La-Toya Hackney: Your question touches on a great point and I think it’s something for lawyers to consider if they’re thinking about making that move from a law firm to in-house. It’s important for you to understand how the organization you work in makes money, right?
When you go in-house, it’s no longer the lawyers generating revenue. In-house, a law department is a cost center. And what you work towards and strive towards is transforming that cost center into a value center.
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