It’s been an interesting 20-plus-year journey from Sharon Ryan’s first role as an in-house attorney with International Paper to becoming the highest-ranking executive of the corporation’s legal team in 2011. She is now GC and senior vice president of the Memphis-based company.

If there’s anything Ryan has learned it’s that “you cannot have people pick you out of a crowd to get promoted. You have to raise your hand and say, ‘I’m interested in this job,’” she says.