When Gloria Santona (pictured), top lawyer at McDonald’s Corporation, was in college, she wanted to become a doctor. She studied biochemistry at Michigan State University, but things didn’t quite fall into place as she’d planned. “I failed to get into medical school,” says Santona, “so I worked for a couple of years.” She took a human resources position with the US Government, and that’s where she became acquainted with a lawyer in her department. “He suggested I go to law school,” she says. Santona took his advice, and to her surprise found that she really liked her corporate law classes.
When Santona graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1977, she didn’t focus on working at a firm. “I was very interested in getting a corporate job,” she says, “and there weren’t very many opportunities at the time.” Santona interviewed with some car companies locally before she found a posting in her school’s placement office for a finance lawyer position with McDonald’s. She travelled to Oak Brook, Illinois, for the interview, and found out within 24 hours that she had the job. “I came to the right place at the right time,” says Santona. Thirty-three years later, she’s still lovin’ it.
