What’s the right thing to do?” For Spencer Preis, that question has guided his career. It first took shape during his years as an employment lawyer, where legal decisions carried consequences beyond policies and regulations. Over time, it became the principle behind his approach to risk, compliance, leadership, and business partnerships.
Today, Spencer is Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Deputy Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Chief Privacy Officer, and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Southwire Company. He leads ethics and compliance, privacy, trade compliance, governance, entity management, and government affairs for a company powering utility infrastructure, residential and commercial construction, industrial operations, data centers, and EV charging systems.
The scope of the role reflects how legal leaders now sit at the heart of conversations about technology, regulation, trade, reputation, and growth. Spencer connects with teams to understand their goals and helps them move forward while managing risk.
“One of the guiding principles that I developed was always to ask the question, ‘What’s the right thing to do? Are we being fair to the parties involved? How would the actions that we’re going to take be viewed by the various stakeholders if they were made public?’ I’ve taken that principle to every role I’ve ever been in. It’s been a good rule of thumb, asking what’s the right thing to do, not just what’s legal and not legal.” It is that principle that has shaped far more than legal advice. It’s the thread connecting a career built on understanding businesses from the inside out.
Learning the business
Spencer’s path into law grew out of public service, family, and curiosity. His parents were always very engaged in the community and in volunteerism. Beginning at an early age, Spencer regularly volunteered with non-profits and later took on leadership roles in organizations. He developed an interest in the law through these and other experiences. Yet his journey into law was not linear. He reflects, “I was confident that I would really like law school, but I was not sure exactly what job I wanted going into law school. But I knew that it would open a bunch of different career pathways that would be of interest to me.”
After Emory University School of Law and clerking for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, he practiced law at a large law firm and then in-house in practice areas such as labor and employment law, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and ethics and compliance; but his time supporting business operations may have had the biggest impact on how he approaches his role.
While many lawyers focus on regulations and contracts, Spencer wanted to understand the people, processes, and decisions that keep a company running and grow the business. “It became clear to me early on that understanding the business is important. So, what do people do? Why do they do it? What are they trying to achieve? How do the underlying technologies work? What are our production processes and so forth? I spent a lot of time asking a lot of questions, with the various people throughout the organization to understand their roles and how they keep the business running, and just studying the industry more broadly.”
Rather than treating legal as separate from operations, he immersed himself in the business. The experience reinforced a lesson that still guides him: effective counsel starts with understanding context. That philosophy has proved particularly valuable at Southwire, where different markets operate under varying regulatory pressures, making a deep understanding of the business essential for identifying risks and building practical solutions.
Building a culture
Understanding the business answered one question: What are people trying to achieve? Ethics and compliance raised another: How do you pursue those goals while staying true to your organization’s values? That grounding gave Spencer credibility for his next challenge: shaping how decisions get made across the company.
Southwire’s culture provided a strong foundation. Founded in 1950 and still privately-held and family-owned, the company has built its reputation on long-term stewardship, balancing growth with responsibility.
For Spencer, ethics begins where compliance ends. “Our team members at Southwire know that following the law is table stakes, something all of them are expected and must do to work here. But they also know that our expectations are high. We expect each of our team members not just to follow the law, but to compete fairly and not cut corners, to treat others with respect, to speak up when they see things that are concerning or might create risk for our business,” he shares.
Building a strong culture never stops. For Spencer, the goal is continuous improvement: reinforcing expectations, sparking conversations, and learning from others in the industry. That mindset led Southwire to participate in Ethisphere’s assessment process, which the company now uses as a benchmark and a source of insight. The recognition that followed, with three consecutive appearances on Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies list, matters, but Spencer cares just as much about finding new ways to improve. For example, through learnings from benchmarking, Southwire introduced Ethical Moments, a quarterly program in which managers and teams discuss ethical situations relevant to their work.
The initiative reflects Spencer’s belief that culture is an accelerant for growth. “I have never viewed growth and risk mitigation as contrary forces. I think protecting the company from risk is supporting the company’s growth.” At a company that takes a multi-generational view of success, that perspective resonates: reputation, culture, and growth are not competing priorities. They are connected.
Tech opportunities and challenges
The issues crossing Spencer’s desk today would have been hard to imagine when he began his career: new AI questions about privacy and governance, trade developments that create challenges and opportunities for manufacturers, and regulatory requirements that evolve alongside technology are all in play.
At Southwire, Spencer is part of the AI Governance Council, where he evaluates use cases and weighs value against risk before new technology rolls out. He explains, “We have implemented key governance elements that empower the business to use these valuable new technologies, while also thoughtfully managing risk.
“Trade and tariffs are another area that has created opportunities and challenges for manufacturing companies like Southwire. Our leadership recognized early on that we were going to need to elevate our engagement.” Recognizing trade policy’s growing impact on manufacturers, Spencer built the processes, relationships, and strategic forums Southwire relies on to navigate it, from regular leadership updates to collaborations with outside advisors, trade associations, and elected officials.
Trade policy is now one of several areas where business decisions, regulation, and external relationships intersect. Spencer has also helped build Southwire’s government affairs function, connecting the company more closely with policymakers and the issues shaping manufacturing.
The measure of success
As Spencer has grown professionally, so has his measure of success. “Today, I define my success based on what my teams achieve and how I have helped advance goals of individuals on my team in ways that I did not earlier in my career,” he shares.
For Spencer, developing people and delivering results go hand in hand. “I like to build strong working relationships with the people I work with. I want us to know and trust one another. I think that trust develops over time through transparency and by showing people you are invested in their careers. I always try to be clear about goals and accountability.”
Looking ahead, Spencer sees Southwire doubling down on better processes and technology. “There is a bigger focus than ever on deploying effective processes and using technology to drive greater results. Every group in the business, including mine, is working to optimize performance through smarter processes and technology.”
For Spencer, the starting point remains unchanged. Understand the business. Understand the people behind it. Then ask the question that has guided every stage of his career: What’s the right thing to do?
