Newsletters & Insights

On April 16, 2024, SACC-DC and the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP, a member of the Washington, D.C. chapter, hosted a well-attended webinar on “Doing Business in the United States – What Every Company Should Know.”

The featured speakers were Michael P. Going, former General Counsel of Volvo Construction Equipment North America (Volvo CE), and Michael J. Lockerby, a litigator based in Foley’s Washington, D.C. office who is national co-chair of Foley’s Distribution & Franchise Practice Group. Their presentation was entitled “Lessons Learned in Dealer Litigation: Managing and Restructuring U.S. Distribution Networks Without Breaking the Budget.” Together they recounted a decade-long saga—following AB Volvo’s sale of its motor car business—whereby Volvo CE acquired additional construction equipment product lines from other manufacturers in Korea and Canada, rebranded the products with the VOLVO® trademark (a process known internally as “VOLVOization”), and consolidated the North American distribution of what were three separate dealer networks into one (a process known internally as dealer “rationalization”). The result was litigation in federal and state courts across the country, including claims under various state distribution laws (a database of which is available at https://map.foley.com/.

Fortunately, the story had a happy ending. The number of lawsuits that Volvo CE faced was relatively small compared to the hundreds of dealers terminated. And in every court that heard the terminated dealers’ claims—including courts as disparate as state court in Corpus Christi, Texas and federal court in Chicago—Volvo CE ultimately prevailed. Some of the “lessons learned” included a discussion of how “random acts of kindness” by Volvo CE personnel helped dissuade many dealers from filing suit and improved Volvo CE’s litigation posture vis-à-vis dealers that did sue. The discussion also addressed the ways in which contracts can be drafted to minimize litigation exposure and the successful strategies for resolving the cases that did result. These included not just “playing defense.” Rather, the strategy that Messrs. Going and Lockerby developed and implemented at the time included procuring the intervention of the owner of the iconic VOLVO® trademark itself—Volvo Trademark Holding Aktiebolaget in Sweden—to seek court rulings that it could not be forced to license the trademark to dealers with which it had not chosen to do business. For those who missed the webinar, a video recording of it is available online here.

In our upcoming webinar, we will address supply chain issues, which is scheduled for May 14.

On our International Women’s Day event on March 7, we had the privilege of listening to the inspiring Dorothy Hildebrandt as she talked about the experiences of women in leadership. Ms. Hildebrandt, Global Senior Director of Corporate Procurement at Hilton, shared insights into leadership in Sweden and the United States, recounted her leadership journey and learnings, and discussed work-life balance. It was a successful evening, and below you can read some words from Dorothy Hildebrandt about women in her industry and leadership. 
 
In your experience, how has the landscape for women evolved in the field of public procurement, or management as a whole? Are there specific initiatives or changes you've witnessed that have positively impacted the role of women in your industry?   
 
Prior to Hilton, many of the examples of senior-most leaders within consulting and procurement were significantly more men than women in numbers, whereas at Hilton, my department president and my direct boss are both women.  I think seeing the numbers of women to men in leadership change across procurement and in management across my career has positively impacted me – seeing more senior-level women who have similar identities as me (woman, spouse, mother) has instilled the belief that I, too, can get there while not compromising who I am at my core. Is it hard each day?  Yes, it’s a lot of hours, scheduling, communication, and a whole support network, particularly with regard to childcare – but I tell myself each day forward is progress and I challenge myself to do even better the next day. 
 
I think much of the change has come from more conversations around the lack of women in leadership and diversity in leadership that made people more aware of it and wanting to change that narrative.  While I think we still have a long way to go with gender parity, I like to think that each step up in leadership in my generation/age group will help the next year and the generation behind me.   
  
As a woman in a leadership role in your industry, what advice would you give to other women aspiring to enter and succeed in similar positions?   
 
Be open to learning at all times: I have learned as many lessons as I could from everyone I worked with and worked for, regardless of gender, and I think it afforded me the ability to develop relationships that fostered mentors and champions in my career. It also allowed me to say “That’s something I should learn or work towards” whereas maybe that other behavior I’d never want to do based on how it left me feeling. Those lessons combined developed expertise and confidence in my abilities.  
 
Be open to taking calculated risks:  Prior to Hilton, I was a specialist in telecom and IT-related services and would present at conferences and negotiate leading tech deals. Hilton had a role to do just that, and I was the last of two – but the other person was offered the role and not me.  I was a bit heartbroken.  A few months passed and after seeing my value, Hilton offered another role: the opportunity to lead procurement – but everything except technology. If I took the risk, I would either succeed or fail. But I knew with my foundation in technology coupled with my love of learning that I could take the risk and do this. It’s hard work and effort to make sure that I – and my team – are always providing value each day, and then it’s so rewarding to see what we can accomplish together. Had I not taken calculated risks across my career, I know I would not be here today.