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Vontier, a global industrial technology company focused on smarter transportation and mobility, has to be prepared for inevitable shifts that come with managing a portfolio of eight operating companies with unique market dynamics. It helps to hire someone like Brad Stoll, chief counsel of mobility technology, who’s responsible for all legal support related to the company’s fueling solutions business and for legal support in the Americas across Vontier’s portfolio of businesses.
He came to Vontier comfortable with navigating through challenges uncertainty, a quality that has fueled his success along a curveball-filled career path. In fact, it’s what drove him to the law as a high school student, despite not knowing the practice areas he’d choose. It is that characteristic that brought him new job opportunities after his post law-school plans fell through. It’s what kept him hungry and optimistic at each career impasse and fork in the road.
Stoll brought that mentality to Vontier in 2022 and encouraged legal operations to be agile, a vital quality for a company at the precipice of gasoline and alternative fuels.
“The expectation now is that the legal department is not just supporting lean operations in the business but being lean itself.”
Brad Stoll
“The company has invested a lot of money into new product development and R&D [research and development] every year, and I think that’s been the trend for a long time. That means we have businesses at the ready for everything from EVs [electric vehicles] to compressed natural gas to hydrogen and things that aren’t even ready for the market yet,” Stoll says. “When you look around the company at every level, you can see branches and teams just ready for when the next thing pops. If it’s hydrogen, we’re all ready. If it’s a change in how EVs are charged, we’re all ready for that, too.”
In the legal department, Stoll and his colleagues have played their part by helping to support acquisitions and divestment transactions that have strengthened the company’s forward-thinking strategies. He has also turned toward contract management tools and artificial intelligence to automate certain processes and make them more efficient.
“It’s not enough that your supply chain or finance department is optimized or operating at peak performance,” Stoll attests. “The expectation now is that the legal department is not just supporting lean operations in the business but being lean itself. It’s an initiative we’re taking very seriously, and we’re making great strides. It’s allowing our small legal team to do a lot more work with fewer people because of the way we’re structured and the tools we’re using.”
Prior to his current role, Stoll gained commercial litigation experience in private practice and in-house roles at Konecranes and Victoria’s Secret & Co. As he grew professionally in those roles, he kept a watchful eye toward his leaders, observing different parts of their management styles to prepare him for his current role. Today, he describes his leadership philosophy as one that values empowerment.
“You can’t imagine what will lead to the next opportunity, but the best way to move through it is to do everything as best as you can and be as pleasant of a person that you can be.”
Brad Stoll
“I make sure that the people who work with me know what their roles and responsibilities are and have the tools to do those things, and that I made the way smooth for them to have success in their role,” Stoll says.
As he reflects on the career experiences that turned him into that kind of leader, Stoll believes his success is a result of “remaining open to what comes down the road.” That’s what he urges young lawyers to do on their way to the top. “Not every opportunity is the right next move for you to pursue, but being open to next steps at all times is important,” he advises. “I couldn’t have imagined this career path when I was fresh from law school, but it’s been extremely rewarding. You can’t imagine what will lead to the next opportunity, but the best way to move through it is to do everything as best as you can and be as pleasant of a person that you can be.”
“Brad is an intelligent, practical, and dedicated professional that has the ability to champion business priorities while seamlessly addressing legal requirements. I always look forward to working with Brad.”
—John G. Stretton, Shareholder
