Sandra Phillips Rogers, who serves as group vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary, in addition to her general counsel role) oversees legal services and direct strategy for the automaker giant. She also provides guidance in areas such as global transactions, cybersecurity, privacy, complex litigation, and labor and employment.
Education: The University of Texas at Austin (JD, BA-Journalism)
First Job: “My first job was scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins. This job taught me about responsibility, the value of money, the basics of running a small business, and customer service.”
Who I Admire: “When I was a child, I would watch my mother study at the dining room table to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This instilled in me the importance of education, hard work, and perseverance.
Lesson Learned: “Customer first is the most important business lesson I have learned. If you focus on the customer, everything else will fall into place and you will experience success at all levels.
Fun Fact: “I can smoke a mean beer-butt chicken on my Green Egg.”
Scary Moment: “The scariest thing I’ve experienced is moving to New York City. Being from Beaumont, a small town in Southeast Texas, the fast pace of the Big Apple was very intimidating.”
Funny Experience: “I watered a fake orchid for four months before I realized it wasn’t real.”
Car I Drive: “Lexus RX450h”
How I Motivate: “I motivate others by providing a vision of the opportunity and how they can play a part in helping the team achieve it together.”
Favorite Movie: “Shawshank Redemption. It’s got all the classic elements of a good movie: conflict, reconciliation, love, hate, and ‘good’ guys winning in the end.”
Who’d Play Me in a Biopic: “Kerry Washington”
Bucket List: “Travel to Vietnam. Anthony Bourdain has made a great case to visit this country.”
Hobby/Passion: “I love live music concerts, especially jazz. I also like to travel and grill.”
An abbreviated version of this Q&A appeared in the 2019 Dallas 500, a special publication produced by D CEO that profiles the region’s most influential executives.
