LISA KOHN
Assistant general counsel-corporate, Unilever
The Legal Department:
London-based Unilever is one of the world’s top makers of packaged consumer goods, including deodorants, fragrances and frozen foods. In 2000 Unilever acquired South Burlington, Vt.-based ice cream producer Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. A member of Unilever’s 27-lawyer legal department in New York, Kohn advises Unilever brands on corporate matters.
Independence Days Past and Present:
For years Kohn, who turns 42 this month, has hosted Fourth of July barbecues for friends and neighbors. Her 2002 party will feature a summertime dessert theme inspired by her in-house client: “Make your own sundae,” with such Ben & Jerry’s flavors as Phish Food and One Sweet Whirled.
But the Kohn clan is getting a head start. They’re making a pilgrimage to Vermont for the Ben & Jerry’s One World One Heart Festival in late June. Kohn says that last year her daughter, now 4, “was the first one to have ice cream at the festival because we got there before it opened.”
How Is This Fourth of July Different?
“Fourth of July maybe will be bigger this year. People will want to be with friends and family — which they always have done, but I think it will be more important this year.”
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MARSCHALL SMITH
General counsel, vice president, and secretary, Brunswick Corp.
The Legal Department:
The Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick is a market leader in leisure products, including boats, outboard motors, exercise machines, and bowling and billiards supplies. The company’s 20,700 employees include about a dozen attorneys.
Independence Days Past and Present:
“Next Fourth of July [2003], I plan to be on my Brunswick boat,” says Smith, adding that he’s planning to buy a Sea Ray boat. Next year, he’ll take boating lessons in the Mediterranean at a company-sponsored school.
But this year he’s staying ashore to do some home improvement. A year ago, he bought a Victorian house built in 1893. A local landmark in the Chicago suburb of Woodstock, the house was featured as the bed and breakfast where actor Bill Murray’s character lodged in the 1993 film “Groundhog Day.”
Smith plans to restore the house’s Corinthian columns to their original “multicolored Victorian splendor.” He also intends to paint gold the carved-wood eagle atop the antique-style flagpole on the porch. “We’ve had an American flag up since Sept. 11,” he says.
How Is This Fourth of July Different?
“You certainly focus a whole lot more on what it means.”
