Carolyn Herzog

EVP General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary

Arm, the world's leading semiconductor IP Company. Arm employees work together to constantly innovate and create an environment where we can license our technology through an ecosystem of partners that create new solutions every day. These new products transform the way we live and work.

I lead a brilliant group of legal professionals who are experts in their field. They are lawyers, paralegals, operational and data experts, engineers , trade compliance professionals, administrators and government affairs specialists who enjoy working together and with the business to help make Arm and our customers both legally compliant and a great business to work with.

I am curious person and I love to ask questions. I sometimes joke that I got a law degree so that I have a certificate that gives me the right to have an opinion! Ruth Bader Ginsburg is my hero because she stood up for the rights of all human beings and she did it with grace and dignity - she said that you should "fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you". She didn't believe in being unpleasant or making enemies. I much prefer collaboration and having fun at work. I enjoy my colleagues and being curious about their work. I enjoy being surrounded by people that know more about a great many things than I do - it creates a perpetual learning environment for me. There is no point in being intimidated by smart people. We can all accept what we are good at, and celebrate what other people are good at. This is the best part of diversity - we all have something to contribute.

There is no typical day, every day is a glorious surprise! One of the biggest lessons in leadership is this wonderful phrase that we start to see in our reviews - "comfort with ambiguity". It took me some time to figure out what that meant. I think now that it means that every day is a new adventure and we had better get used to not having it go as we expected it to go. I learn how to prioritize my work and I make sure that I spend my time connecting with the people that I really need to connect with, including my husband and my children (and of course my dog, because she is really always the one who is happiest to see me).

My journey has been a tiny bit of planning, a lot of luck and a huge amount of curiosity. With that kind of recipe, you can see why I am not a baker! The best career advice I can offer is to be curious and to seek happiness. I don't know anyone who has had a fulfilling career that was not curious and did not seek happiness. The right amount of money will come to those who can fulfill those other two magical buckets, but there is no amount of money that can make for a satisfying career if you are neither curious nor happy. I started off working in international development in the World Bank in the Africa Department, which I found culturally very fulfilling but it was too big and too bureaucratic for me. Then I worked in a non profit working in international legal reform which was too disorganized. I fell into technology through a connection and thought it would be a mismatch and it ended up being the best career move of my life. I worked in cybersecurity for 20 years, the majority of that time at Symantec - I felt like I worked for the "good guys" and I had great opportunities to diversify my experience. I was able to work overseas which was tremendous. I also had great bosses - they encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. A great boss makes all the difference. Never settle for someone that does not lift you up.

Who knows? I love my job and truly enjoy my team. I'd like to serve on a board while I am still serving as GC of Arm. And later, more board work could be in my future.

For fun, I love going on hikes with my dog and my girlfriends (outside of the COVID-19 world). I enjoy movie night with my family (2 fantastic girls - ages (almost) 16 and 18 - both GLAM graduates and my wonderful husband who has been a stay at home Dad always). I enjoy the theatre and music, which I confess we did more of when we lived in D.C. and London - it was a bit more accessible than in San Jose. And I looooove to travel - I long for far away places and love to get lost in a new city, or even places I've been many times. I speak French and lived in France as a student. I encourage everyone to take that year abroad as a college student if you can!

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland: "Why, sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." I don't know if it's inspirational or if I simply can't get it out of my head - I find myself saying it over and over again.