CEO Roundtable - Claudia Zanes

CEO Roundtable events will be offered exclusively to Professional Members of Tucson Young Professionals and United Way Young Leaders Society members only. For information on how to join either of these organizations, please see below:

Tucson Young Professionals: http://tucsonyoungprofessionals.com/membership-plans/

Young Leaders Society: http://www.unitedwaytucson.org/yls

Thank you!

ALL ATTENDEES MUST RSVP ON EVENTBRITE Registration opens 3/3/14. Space is limited to 50 people

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ceo-roundtable-claudia-zanes-rsvp-opens-3314-tickets-10132044217

Please join us for our CEO Roundtable featuring Claudia Zanes on March 11, 2014.

In a partnership with Tucson Metro Chamber, Tucson Young Professionals, and Young Leaders Society, we would like to invite you to hear Claudia share her story of success.

Executive Profile: Claudia Zanes

Chief Executive Officer

(Non-attorney law firm CEO)

A born bootstrapper and lifelong entrepreneur, Claudia Zanes is the non-lawyer who heads one of the state’s fastest-growing law firms. “Be prepared to feed the baby, and by that I mean your business,” Claudia says. “When things are going wrong and the pocketbook is empty, it’s your passion for what you’re building that will motivate you to keep going.”

Born in Del Rio, Texas, Claudia moved with her family to Nogales, Arizona, at age 3. Brought up in an entrepreneurial, creative environment, she learned negotiation, communication, selling, and strategizing. “I grew up watching this and I saw it as the only way to live. I saw the hustle and the commitment,” she says. Driven to succeed, Claudia built this childhood experience into an award-winning sales career.

In 2003, Claudia left corporate life to chase her entrepreneurial dream, starting Zanes Law with her husband, attorney Doug Zanes. With Claudia winning clients and Doug winning cases, Zanes Law grew from a single-attorney firm to 40 people in its first 10 years.

Claudia was named Zanes Law’s CEO in 2009. Her management of the firm as a business – bringing creativity and community outreach to marketing, as well as handling strategy and finance – frees Doug and the legal team to focus on client work. Claudia advises other entrepreneurs to be prepared to devote everything they have to a business – physically, emotionally and financially; pay for quality help as soon as possible and find a mentor or peer group for guidance.

Together, Doug and Claudia have grown Zanes Law into a multi-million-dollar company and one of the most recognized legal brands in southern Arizona. Zanes Law takes great pride in serving the state’s community through its formal community service program, which allows the staff to dedicate time to working with the community.

Claudia says her greatest achievement is building a family business that is successful both as a family and as a business. (One of the couple’s daughters now works with them on staff.) Off hours, Claudia loves finding new ways to contribute to the community and collecting books signed by her favorite authors on leadership, entrepreneurship and change, including “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” by Verne Harnish, “Tribal Leadership” by Dave Logan and “Double, Double” by Cameron Herold, which she says was immensely helpful to both Claudia and Doug Zanes and is the first book she’d recommend to entrepreneurs.

For fun, she reads books by Jodi Picoult, John Grisham and Lauren Weisburger. On the personal side, Claudia cherishes time with her grandchildren, daughters and friends. “My friends are also like my family,” she says. “I invest a lot of time and commitment to them, and that is what makes everything I do at work worth it.” She and Doug enjoy traveling and enjoying the fruits of their labor – “even if it’s just being outdoors and seeing the mountains, the ocean, skiing,” Claudia says. “Wherever it is, wherever in the world, as long as we have the people we love most around us, we are joyful.”

Awards:

2013 Woman of Influence, Inside Tucson Business

Professional Associations & Memberships:

Go Red Movement, 2013, chairVistage International CEO Group 2012-presentBlair Charity Group, 2012-present, board memberChairman’s Circle, Tucson Metro Chamber, 2012-2013National Association of Professional Women – Woman of the Year, 2010-2011, candidateCambridge Who’s Who, 2010

Community Service

Wings for Women Gala Host, 2014Dancing in the Streets Arizona (Nutcracker), 2013,celebrity participantToys for Tots Toy Drive, 2013, toy drive hostGo Red Movement, American Heart Association of Southern Arizona, 2013, ChairFiesta Grande, 2013, supporterZanes Law School Supply Giveaway, 2010-present, founderBlair Charity Group, 2013-present, current board member and supporter

Arizona Basketball Academy, 2011-present, supporterRonald McDonald House – Chef for a Day, 2012, participantTucson Young Professionals Annual Fashion Show, 2012-2013, supporter and celebrity participant

Beat Cancer Boot Camp, 2010-2012, supporter and participant

Christian Family Care, 2011-2012, supporter and participantThe Salvation Army, 2011-2012, supporterSouthern Arizona Kidney Walk, 2012, supporterAmerican Red Cross, 2012, supporter

Emerge House, 2010-2011, supporter
ENCORE! Celebrity Fashion Show (to benefit the Salvation Army), 2011, board member and celebrity participant
San Miguel Corporate Partner, 2009-2010, supporter