Simone Hughes, MBA, CM
Simone Hughes is the director of business development and marketing for Gowling WLG Canada. She leads a high-performance team focused on providing globally integrated, experience-based solutions for clients.
Simone fosters a culture of elevating people to realize their professional career goals. Her depth of strategic and pragmatic leadership centres on empowering and enabling people by equipping them with relevant approaches, processes, tools and technology.
Her experience includes:
- Evolving and harnessing brand, vision, values and positioning
- Synergizing engaged, client-focused teams
- Firm, practice group and individual strategic planning
- Integrating marketing technologies, such as big data/CRM, website and social media
- Client and internal experience
- Leading-edge business development and marketing training
- Content marketing, thought leadership and client educational programs
- Request for proposal (RFP) programs, policies and procedures
- Media relations programs and crisis management
Simone has over 25 years of experience working in regional, national and global settings for law firms, banks and an HR consultancy firm. She is a strategic and multicultural communicator, inspiring others to collaborate and achieve client-focused organizational objectives. Simone has written several blogs sharing her insights on business development and marketing in the legal industry for Canadian Lawyer.
Acting as both a mentor and coach, Simone is committed to helping each member of her team develop their skills and work to achieve their goals. She was an adjunct professor of communications at Niagara University in Lewiston, NY, and she will start her fifth year as a remote sessional lecturer at the University of Calgary Law School. Simone co-created a course at U of C designed to provide graduating law students with practical experience in the business of law, personal marketing, business development and client service.
Simone’s passion for and involvement in music, athletics, judging national figure skating, board work for affordable housing and volunteering at rodeos, have laid down the foundation for excellence, creativity, governance and a strong work ethic. She loves to travel, engage in new experiences and give back to emerging generations.
Simone is fluent in both English and French.