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As a teenager, Keri Matthews stood out among her friends. While they frolicked by the pool, Matthews pored over The New York Times spread out in front of her. She read aloud to her friends, who couldn’t understand why Matthews was so invested in Supreme Court decisions and issues that seemed as far away as adulthood.
“I was a geek,” the current principal and deputy general counsel at Vanguard recalls. “I was concerned about some decisions that were coming out, and that was where my interest in the law began.”
A Wise Pause
Despite her clear interest in law, Matthews made a decision immediately after her first year of law school that, while disappointing her parents, turned out to be the best she could have made: She took a year off. She’d quickly figured out that the environmental law career she thought she wanted wasn’t right for her and she didn’t want to sprint through law school without a clear goal in mind.
Matthews had the luxury of getting an internship in a corporate legal department. On her first day dealing with employment matters, the future lawyer fell in love with the field.
Later on, Matthews witnessed a difficult situation where an employee had to speak to the company’s in-house counsel about a pending sexual harassment claim. The employee explained the horror of having to go home and explain to their spouse what was happening.
“It made the practice of law so real and so personal in that moment,” Matthews recalls. “It showed me that you could make a real difference in a person’s life in-house. You don’t have to be a civil rights advocate. That’s when I knew employment law is what I wanted to do.”
Getting a Higher View
Matthews would go on to practice employment law, which eventually led her to diversity and inclusion work. She spent fourteen years at Deutsche Bank (including as a Managing Director in the employment law team), served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel as well as head of employment law at Fifth Third Bank, and joined Vanguard in 2018.
“Keri is one of the most astute issue spotters and strategic thinkers with whom we work,” says Robert Stern, a securities litigation partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. “Even when presented with novel legal issues in disparate areas of the law, Keri displays tremendous instincts and judgment. She is quick to comprehend the issues, evaluate the available options and synthesize it all into sound decisions.”
While Matthews began as Vanguard’s head of employment law, she quickly moved into litigation and investigations. She now heads enterprise legal services, covering areas including employment, litigation, enforcement, IT, privacy, and IP. That inundation of extended responsibilities has not come without some reservations on Matthews’s part, but she’s up to the challenge.
“There are new parts of my job where I’m clearly not an expert and don’t pretend to be,” Matthews explains. “As I’ve been asked to take over teams, it’s a case of understanding: How much proficiency do I need to lead and manage these teams to do their best work?”
That doesn’t mean that Matthews shies away from tough questions. In fact, she admits that the number of questions she peppers her team with can be, well, a lot. But she does not have the kind of ego that prevents her from asking questions, no matter how rudimentary they may seem.
“If I can’t cement these matters in my head and work my way through them, I’m never going to be helpful to the organization, to you, or to my team,” the principal explains. “I try to show up as a learner, getting into the mix, and asking questions that, I admit, may drive people a little mad.”
Part of that curiosity, the lawyer admits, is part of her own process of learning to let go. As she’s moved up, team management has become a more critical part of her responsibilities, which means less time spent in the weeds. She’s worked hard to create space for her highly qualified team to do their best work. That doesn’t mean she won’t have a healthy list of questions, but it does mean empowering her people to work their own way.
The X-Factors of In-House Professionals
One of the significant contributions Matthews has made to Vanguard is focusing on communication and breaking down the silos often found in legal departments. Her team provides sound counsel, enabling informed decision-making across the company.
“People who move from law firms to in-house positions don’t always appreciate the number of stakeholders and parties who have a view or say,” the deputy GC says. “You’re not taught how to manage these kinds of issues in a law firm. You’re not taught how to deliver tough messages or get your twenty-minute discussion piece across in an elevator ride. None of what I just mentioned is the law, but success is how you marry those skills with good lawyering.”
That wider outlook is Matthews’s superpower. As a working mother, Matthews says her daughter has helped grow her own empathy and interpersonal skills exponentially. Her daughter is on the autism spectrum, and Matthews says a series of very hard years have given way to some incredible ones.
Raising a child on the spectrum, Matthews says it’s critically important for parents to interact, share with each other, and hopefully better understand that they are not alone. Being open fostered her own growth and ultimately made her a better lawyer, a better boss, and a better mother.
