Shirell Gross ’93 is the Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain, Legal, for Medtronic, a global healthcare technology company. Her career started in the courtroom, moved to private practice, and transitioned in and out of the corporate world.
Hofstra Law Experience
Gross was the first person in her family to go to college. “I didn’t know any lawyers and I wasn’t around lawyers growing up,” she says, “but I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was 10 years old.” She chose Hofstra Law, where she was the President of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and ran a moot court program for middle schoolers as part of BLSA. She participated in a criminal justice clinic as well. “That was another great experience,” she says. “We did mock trials and represented real clients in misdemeanor cases in court.”
While in law school, Gross had several internships, including an internship at the Port Authority. “That was a great job,” she says. “I had a great mentor, and we went to court all the time and I got a chance to research and write. It was a lot of fun.” She worked at a labor law firm that represented unions but found she wasn’t interested enough in the work to pursue it as a career.
“I had a lot of great experiences at Hofstra Law, and I am still friends with a lot of Hofstra Law alumni.”
Gross also interned at the Manhattan DA’s Office. “I thought, I want this job because they have the power to determine what to charge. I thought I could impact a decision as opposed to just having to do the work that happens to come your way.”
“I had a lot of great experiences at Hofstra Law, and I am still friends with a lot of Hofstra Law alumni,” she says. “I was recently honored as one of the Outstanding Women in Law, and it was the first time I had been back to the school in a long time. I was very happy to be there.”
Beginning a Career in the Courtroom
Gross started her career as a prosecutor in the Bronx and was trying felony cases by the time she left. “I loved being a prosecutor. The Bronx is the best place to start as an ADA,” she says. “There is no grace period. We finished orientation and went right to court. I got the best experience. It taught me how to deal with people as professionals. Threatening people with jail doesn’t work. You have to try to understand people and meet them where they are.”
But being a career prosecutor wasn’t in the cards for Gross. “I enjoyed the team camaraderie, and the job was rewarding but I didn’t want to do it long term,” she says. “I applied for jobs to leverage my litigation background.” She took a position at Aaronson Rappaport Feinstein and Deutsch. “They liked litigators. I did medical malpractice defense. I was already trained to go to court from being a prosecutor, and the firm could train us on the medicine.”
After working at the firm, for her next position, Gross wanted to go in-house. She was looking for a way to use her litigation experience and was seeking litigation management roles. Her medical malpractice and litigation experience landed her a job working at Quest Diagnostics.
Starting out in Healthcare Law
At Quest Diagnostics, Gross was hired to manage litigation, in particular professional liability litigation, but she switched to a counseling and compliance role. “I also did some cool things with risk mitigation and risk management,” she says.
“I had a great working relationship and a great boss. But I had a lot of struggles at that time. I was trying to have a second child; while at Quest I had two preemies that didn’t make it. Quest was very supportive. When my son was born in 2004, he became the office’s baby. My boss even had a picture of my son in his office.”
Gross left Quest to go to the US law department for diabetes business at Bayer. “It was a hard choice because I loved Quest, but I could expand my skill set at the new position,” she says.
“While at Quest, I started to know the players and the issues, and I essentially became a healthcare lawyer. I was working in healthcare, but it was healthcare for a lab business, for medical services. At Bayer I became more entrenched in the corporation; I was there for 15 years. That is where I started in the medical device field, and I became more of an expert in medical devices. While at Bayer, I had a few roles: Diabetes – US, and then law globally for diabetes.” I then became Global Chief Counsel for our Radiology business.
Transitioning In and Out of the Corporate World
After 15 years at Bayer, Gross decided to leave the company, but she didn’t have a new job lined up or a specific plan. “I didn’t feel I had the career I wanted long term at Bayer,” she says. “I wanted more and didn’t know if I could get it there. I had to take the time to figure out what I wanted to do, and my mentor advised me not to immediately jump into something.”
Instead of going back into law, Gross decided to become a life coach. “Talent development is a passion of mine, especially women and women of color,” she says. “I went to coaching school in California and got certified to be a life coach. I opened a leadership development and coaching firm in September of 2019.”
“The coaching practice was a lot of fun, and I still coach people privately and do events under my business for leadership development, coaching and training for companies. But I missed being around people and solving problems. I missed the camaraderie in the workforce and working within an institution to drive change.”
She continued to coach full-time for a little over a year but then received a phone call to speak to her about Medtronic, one of the companies she worked with as a partner with Bayer. “At that time, I missed some things about working in corporate. Eventually, I decided to come to Medtronic.”
“People are afraid of starting over. But I left to figure out a path forward to a career I found fulfilling.”
It was a transition going back to the corporate world. “I don’t miss invoicing and other things you need to do when you are an independent entrepreneur, like business development, but it was still a shift going back into the corporate world,” she says.
“Being on my own gave me a chance to gain some perspective. It was helpful as a leader and as a coach. When I initially left Bayer a lot of people asked me if I was afraid of not getting another job. People are afraid of starting over. But I left to figure out a path forward to a career I found fulfilling. I was able to think about what I loved and able to have this to fill that gap. Often people are afraid to make a change. I’m passionate about resetting and helping people find the tools to do that.”
Working at Medtronic
At Medtronic, Gross runs the law department and is responsible for supporting the company’s manufacturing plants, procurement, distribution centers, supply chain management as well as trade legal and compliance.
“When I got appointed to this position, we didn’t have a law department dedicated to the entire function,” she says. “I was able to take employees working for me at the time supporting part of the function and build out this law department, to support the entire function. We changed the workflow, job responsibilities, and skilled up the department to more a more business partnering approach as opposed to the transactional mindset that existed before, and we changed the name to Global Operations Supply Chain Legal. We had to figure out where we had gaps in coverage and apply resources to fill those gaps. We have a great, talented organization of lawyers, paralegals, and contract professionals.”
Gross is also the global co-chair of the African Descent Network employee resource group at Medtronic. She is responsible for driving strategy and programs for the network and works with global functions and businesses to drive diversity and equity. “At Medtronic, the philosophy is that the ERG leader should be a senior leader so you can drive agendas and have more influence,” she says. “We have 25 hubs all over the world, primarily in the US, but also in South Africa, Latin America, the UK, and Ireland, and we have a total of 95,000 employees, including 3,500 black employees.”
“I’ve been at Medtronic since December of 2020. I like the diversity of the work and having multiple issues that come my way. I learn a lot and have a very dynamic client group.”
What’s Next?
With all of the changes Gross has made in her career, it’s natural to ask what’s next. “I am always thinking about what is next,” she says. “Thinking about what is next helps you prepare yourself and prevents you from being lazy. The mind doesn’t like change; humans don’t want change. Thinking about the next step helps me prepare and stay in tune and be intentional about what I’m doing so my career is moving forward and not staying still. It keeps me accountable to myself. It’s about managing your career and not allowing others to manage it for you, and learning how to manage your emotions so when you are not fulfilled you are making the right decisions. If it is not working out there is always a chance to reset.”
“For me as an African American woman in law and in corporate, it is almost negligent of me to avoid talking and thinking about the importance of being in an underrepresented group, really doing the work of understanding your value and the dynamics of the situation you’re in, and making sure you go places where you can succeed and thrive, where they respect inclusion and diversity. Don’t try to make yourself fit in a place that doesn’t want you. I wish I had done that instead of having self-doubt. I wish someone would have told me 20 years ago to look for organizations that want you there. If they don’t respect diversity and inclusion, don’t respect who you are and what you bring to the table, or you don’t see people thriving and succeeding, it gives you an idea that it may not be a place for you.”
“I want to continue to grow my career in corporate and keep making sure I have exciting robust roles,” she says. “I will end my career probably doing nonprofit or general counsel work; when I get to the sunset of my career. I will continue to do private coaching and do more empowerment events because I am passionate about bringing up leaders. I want to continue to grow in law. I like problem solving. For me it is more about where I can contribute, fix broken things, or build things. There are a lot of different problems to solve and areas to touch, to build and grow an organization with freedom and flexibility. That’s what I really like.”
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