Jennett Hill '85 is Indianapolis Business Journal 'Woman of Influence'
November 1, 2014
Jennett M. Hill, senior vice president and general counsel of Citizens Gas and 1985 graduate of DePauw University, is among the Indianapolis Business Journal's 2014 Women of Influence. They are "20 women from diverse backgrounds who are shaping the state’s business, artistic and philanthropic landscape," according to IBJ.
"After graduating from DePauw University, where she set track and field records, she worked at IBM for a decade before tackling the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law," notes the publication. "She clerked for Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. -- including a year where she was nicknamed 'cyber-clerk' because she managed the workload from Michigan after her husband [Alan Hill '81] took a teaching job there. As he was offered a teaching job at Franklin College, she was wooed to Faegre Baker Daniels LLP. And after earning partnership there specializing in not-for-profit and tax-exempt law, she opted to take an offer with Faegre client Citizens Energy Group to become vice president and general counsel."
The piece notes, "Along the way, she’s been committed not just to her jobs, but to ways she can benefit others. At Faegre, she not only helped the Indiana National Guard form a foundation to fund a memorial; she also led the firm in developing the Indiana Lawyers for Soldiers initiative, offering pro bono legal services for deployed members and their families."
Hill explains, "We wanted to make sure the soldiers knew that their families were being taken care of, so that they could focus on doing what they need to do and coming back safely. The ‘how’ is just all of the boring legal work behind it. The ‘why’ is that it’s my way of giving back to a community that gave so much to me."
IBJ points out that Hill is involved in other community organizations, and is past chair of DePauw's Alumni Board.
Read the complete feature here.
Jennett (McGowan) Hill double-majored in political science and French at DePauw. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
In 1984, Hill appeared in a video which aired during the telecast of the Monon Bell Classic. It is embedded below.