Call it serendipity. SARA GROSS METHNER was in the middle of a transition back to Minnesota from Hong Kong when she learned of a job description for the first-ever general counsel at the University of St. Thomas.
“It was fate,” says Gross Methner, the former managing director and international general counsel at investment bank Piper Jaffray Companies. “My husband had mentioned he thought I should be a general counsel for a university, and I thought it was a great idea. Then, a few months later, a friend who was unaware of that conversation let me know about the opening and said, ‘You should check this out.’ ” (Her husband, David, a freelance saxophone and clarinet player, has transferable skills as well as career change ideas.)
