Julie Lilly

Beth Chesterton: Welcome to the ABC to CEO Preparing for the Possibility Podcast. I'm Beth Chesterton, a cohost of the podcast. We're really glad you're here. I just want to tell you that ABC to CEO is a 501(c)(3) organization. Our mission is to inspire and prepare young women for the possibility of CEO, or to be the leader of whatever it is they're doing.

We have a really fantastic guest for you today, Julie Lilly. Julie Lily is the CEO of St. Louis Trust & Family Office, which advises clients on more than $13 billion of investment assets or $15 billion of total wealth. They serve clients nationwide in over 32 states. Previously to her role as CEO in this capacity, Julie spent 20 years at Lewis Rice, a leading law firm. She was both an attorney and the chief operating officer. When she was chief operating officer for 15 years, she had responsibility for HR, finance, budgeting, building technology, facilities, and marketing. Now, her accolades don't stop there. She doesn't want me to tell you, but she graduated cum laude from Princeton University, and first in her class from Washington University School of Law. She was recognized in 2018 by St. Louis Business Journal as the most influential business leader honoree.

We are thrilled to have you today, Julie. Thank you for taking time to talk to us.

Julie Lily: Thank you so much for the introduction. Wow, you made me sound better than I am, I fear.

Beth Chesterton: She's very humble. But we're going to have some fun with this. Julie, tell us a little bit about your role today. What is it that you do as CEO?

Julie Lily: I lead our 60 employees here at St. Louis Trust & Family Office in providing a very customized high-level wealth management for our 60 plus client families across the country. I'm involved in business development. I'm involved in ensuring our client families are well served and happy. I'm involved in hiring employees, making sure we are always working to enhance our culture here. And anything else that comes my way, whatever it may be, taking out the trash, if necessary.

Beth Chesterton: Anything, all duties are assigned. Okay, so let's step back in time. As you know, our target market here at ABC to CEOs, young women, early career, or before. Thinking back to you, when you were a young woman, just beginning, where did you begin your career? And what were you doing?

Julie Lily: Well, it's sort of a fun story. I went to Princeton for my undergraduate experience. And most of my friends at Princeton, were heading off following graduation, to investment banking jobs, or straight into some sort of professional school, doing big things. I really had an itching to come home to St. Louis. I thought I might want to go to law school, but I wasn't quite sure. I thought, "Well, I'm going to find a job in St. Louis."

There were two companies that interviewed on campus at Princeton back in 1990. Remember, this was before the internet. It was all about in-person interviews. And those two companies were McDonnell Douglas, which was looking for wonderful young engineers, and Maritz Motivation company. And since I was a history major, not an engineer, I interviewed with Maritz Motivation company and got this wonderful job as a project manager. Went off to work, very excited for my first job. And instead of being consumed by my sort of day job, which was to help put together motivation, programs for various businesses to incentivize workers, I was fascinated by what was happening in the in-house counsel's office. I was supposed to be setting up these wonderful sweepstakes for the employees with the most sales. And instead of focusing on what the prizes would be, I was in the in-house counsel's office trying to understand the rules of sweepstakes law. I knew then and there that in fact, I should go to law school. So, after one year at Maritz, I headed off to Washington University School of Law and then began a long career in the legal industry.

Beth Chesterton: Okay, I love that story. We had another CEO on a few shows ago who had gone on air at a news station but was really most interested in how they were making their money. And then, she chose a totally different path. It's just like what you're describing. This is for our listeners, cookie crumbs, listening to whispers or noticing the little things that draw your attention. Then, you end up going to law school. I'm assuming you go to Lewis Rice right after law school?

Julie Lily: I did. I spent one summer at Lewis Rice during law school. And then, I spent another summer up at one of the largest law firms in the country called Sidley and Austin at the time in Chicago, I wanted to make sure that, I loved Lewis Rice, and I loved the opportunities in St. Louis. But I had an opportunity during law school to try something else, so I did. And I had a great experience up in Chicago, but decided Lewis Rice is the place for me. So, I started my career there in 1994 and had an incredible run of over 20 years there.

Beth Chesterton: Okay, so now imagine, for listeners, you're an attorney, you're at Lewis Rice, a big-time law firm, and something happens. How do you transition from attorney to heading up the operations and becoming chief operations officer?

Julie Lily: There's a funny story too. I've had a lot of good fortune throughout my career. I loved practicing law. I was in my fifth year as a lawyer, and I got an unsolicited call from Washington University, my alma mater. And at the time, there was a new dean coming to the law school in Washington University. And he was trying to put together his leadership team. And someone had recommended that he call me and approach me about becoming the director of development at Washington University School of Law. I had a background in estate planning. So, it made sense in terms of the charitable arm of that work. So, I just took the meeting, I wasn't looking for a job. I just took the meeting, because I did, I had a great experience at law school, and I love Washington University, and how important it is for our community here in St. Louis. And I was intrigued by it. And so, I thought, "Well, maybe this is a sign from above that I'm being offered this leadership experience. I should jump."

I went to speak to the chairman of Lewis Rice, and I was lucky enough to have already established the beginnings of a real relationship with him. I went to see him and I said, "Jack, I wasn't looking for a job. But I was approached to do something different. And I think I'm going to take it." And he said, "Well, Julie, if you want to do something else, I've got an idea. I need someone to help me run the business of this firm. I love to practice law. I would love to be a rainmaker. I don't love running the business. I think you'd be good at it." I said, "Well, I never wanted to leave Lewis Rice, I'm going to just switch courses." I do think that being a practicing lawyer at the firm helped me tremendously to be an effective chief operating officer there. So, I respectfully declined the opportunity at Washington University, but that then led me in this new direction at the firm that I love so much.

Beth Chesterton: Okay, that's really cool story too. What was it like to manage all these attorneys when you stepped up from attorney peer to managing them? How'd that go?

Julie Lily: Oh, wow. I have lots of great stories, especially outsiders often say, "Oh, my gosh, how in the world did you herd the cats?" All of these lawyers in one room, I loved it. And as I referred to before, I think the fact that I had been in the trenches with many of them, I really understood the work that the firm, what we were trying to do for our clients, I understood the pressures on the lawyers. I think that gave me some status with them. There was some respect maybe that certainly I had to continue to earn and earn and earn over my years in that role, but at least I started from a place that I think gave me unique perspective.

What I didn't have, though, was an MBA, I didn't have any true business experience. I just knew what it was like to practice law, and I was good at building relationships. And I think that was really the key. I think the chairman of the firm, the management committee of the firm had seen me successfully build relationships with my lawyer peers, then the more senior lawyers, and seeing me build relationships with clients. And that was probably the most important thing I needed to be successful in that role.

Beth Chesterton: Well, I think that is a natural talent of yours. Anybody that's watching, this could just tell by watching you and interacting with you, you're a lot of fun to interact with and you're great at connecting. And I do think that sometimes, young women probably underestimate how important that is in building a really exciting career. But this other piece about P&L responsibility and the business side, how did you learn that?

Julie Lily: Just self-education. I think I'm a relatively smart person, and I was eager to learn. I think that makes a huge difference, if you're really excited about what you're learning. So, I was eager to learn. I have wonderful people I could ask questions to, and I had the confidence to ask when I didn't know. And yeah, just sort of on-the-job learning, that's a lot of what you do as a lawyer too. I've had some experiences of being in that feeling of sort of discomfort of not really knowing exactly what I was supposed to do. So, I built from there.

Beth Chesterton: It's interesting that you talked about asking questions when you didn't know the answer. You're the third CEO, almost consecutively, who's talked about asking questions when you don't know the answers, being fearless about it. Can you describe what that looks like? Asking when you don't know the answers earlier in your career?

Julie Lily: It's definitely scary. You really are showing your vulnerability. That's what you feel like at least, to have to go to someone who has more knowledge than you have in a particular area and have to sort of admit that you don't know the answer, and you need help. I can remember being scared to ask/ But, boy, again, I would take it back to the relationships. If you've taken the time to build relationships with those people that then you seek help from, it sure feels a lot better, if you're honest, if you're direct. I think mostly you'll find I was fortunate enough to find people really excited to help me be successful. And I think a lot of us certainly the way I feel now, I can remember being in that position and being so grateful when others helped me. And I tried to do that now and I think some of those people who were helping me back in those early days of my career, someone else had helped them before. So, there was a willingness.

Beth Chesterton: So true. That's what really ABC to CEO is about. It's virtual mentorship for young women, and often and almost always, our CEOs are often women, providing mentorship, virtually to young women who are coming. Along that line, help us transition. You're CEO of this wonderful law firm, and you're enjoying that. How then did you transition to CEO of the St. Louis Trust?

Julie Lily: Well, again, I referenced earlier, I've had some good fortune along the way. I loved my career at Lewis Rice. And if you had asked me in 2014, what I would be doing now in 2022 or where I would be when I retired, I would have said back then, "I'd be at Lewis Rice." At that point, I felt like this firm was my family. And in many ways, some of those good friends that I made during those times, they're still like my family.

But I got this call from a very well-known, well-respected businessperson here in St. Louis, again sort of out of the blue. And he asked me to lunch. At the time that he called, I was serving as the chairman of the board of a private school here in St. Louis, JK-12 private school. That was a real opportunity for me as well. I think I was the first female chair of the board of this school after the boys and girls school had merged. So, it was a little bit of new territory. And I was excited about it. And I was early in my days is the chair. And this renowned businessman calls me and says, "I'd like to have lunch." And I think, "Oh, dear, I've done something in my role as chair of the board that has caused him to need to give me advice or set the ship straight." So, I was a little nervous about this.

It's sort of a funny story. He asked me to meet at his office, which was in the same building as a lunch club in our community. I thought, "Oh, we're going to meet in the office, and then we'll go up to the lunch club and have this conversation where he tells me things I ought to be thinking about as the chairman of the board of the school." Instead, he took me into a conference room in the office, and I thought, "Oh, my gosh. Something has gone so wrong, that I can't even go in public and have this conversation." I was really nervous.

Well, what it turned out to be my good friend, Spencer, wanted to introduce me to some of the leaders of St. Louis Trust & Family Office because they were thinking about their management succession plan. And they thought of me as a potential candidate for this, it certainly wasn't something that I thought of myself as doing but they had thought of me. And so, that began a conversation that lasted over several months about how this might work and what I might do. And whether I was-- in my mind, I had to figure out if I felt qualified to do it. While I had great leadership experience, this was a new industry for me. After a lot of soul searching, I decided to take the leap. So, I started as an executive vice president at St. Louis Trust & Family Office in 2015, with the idea that I would take over for the founder of the company as CEO after a period of sort of transition and integration. So, after a year, I became CEO. It was a wonderful, frightening, exciting opportunity that sort of found me, I think, in large part, because I had been out in the community doing some things that maybe helped me build relationships. Again, all about the relationships with people across industry and with different opportunities for me.

Beth Chesterton: What an incredible honor to be selected as the CEO and put into this position. You mentioned the excitement, and I think young women often have a hard time imagining themselves as CEO. And one of the things we love to do is to help them get a sense of what the excitement is like. I know it's a lot of responsibility, obviously. But there's got to be a thrill to it to even in so much as the impact. But can you talk a little bit about what is thrilling and exciting about being a CEO?

Julie Lily: Wow, what a good question. It is thrilling, I think, because it feels like a dream. As a young businessperson, I think you imagine this title, you imagine people in this CEO role. And I don't know, I didn't really expect that I would ever have such an opportunity and to have earned an opportunity to lead a company, to have others feel confident in your skills, the fact that the board of our company felt confident in me, that our client families felt confident me. So importantly, that my coworkers felt confident in me to achieve something to lead something when I never really imagined it would be possible, what a thrill. I guess that's a big part of it. And it is one of the reasons that I left a place I loved over seven years ago to take this opportunity on was because I wanted the opportunity to sort of set the course for this company going forward. I saw such potential for growth and continued excellence. And I thought, "Wow, as CEO, you really are at the helm." I have a wonderful set of colleagues, I'm so lucky, I work with a tremendous group of people. And really, it's a joint effort, for sure. But I do recognize at the end of the day, I'm going to have to make the call if there's a close call. And that's daunting and thrilling.

Beth Chesterton: All right, really well said. Julie, we talked kind of about the idea of how you saw things as a young woman and where you are today. And if we could sort of create almost a sense of steppingstones or looking back, can you look back now and say, "Okay, I have some early signs of leadership potential in this, that, or the other"? Can you think of a few examples where you look back at any age? It could be in your 20s or even before, even as a little kid.

Julie Lily: Yeah. Well, one thing that I've said throughout my career is I felt very fortunate in the 1970s and 80s to have gone to an all-girls school, and there aren't as many of those opportunities now for young people. In fact, I didn't send my daughter to an all-girls school, but back then, in those earlier times in the 70s and 80s, I did attend an all-girls school and I had lots of opportunities to lead in that environment. And I do think that really helped prepare me to jump into the opportunities then that came upon later in my career. I was the student council president. As silly as that sounds, I developed some confidence there, doing that sort of thing.

And then, I went off to Princeton at a time when Princeton was about, I think-- I don't know, I think it was maybe around 30% women. I went from all women to women in the minority. But because I had already developed confidence earlier on, I wasn't afraid when opportunities came along to sort of take the lead. And I thank my parents for that. My parents were from the beginning so incredible, saying, "You can do anything."

I think the other thing, and I'm sure you hear this a lot, Beth, and I know you lived this too. It's those opportunities, it's those times when you push yourself out of your comfort zone that really, I think, paved the way for continued growth over a long career. When I had some chances to do some things, whether it be lead an initiative at my law firm, or whether it be take on a role on a board in our community that I didn't necessarily know if I'd be good at but I just did, those helped me develop the confidence that ultimately led me to leave my place of sort of love and comfort at Lewis Rice, to strive to become the CEO here at St. Louis Trust.

Beth Chesterton: That's fantastic. There's so much that you're saying, because we see, and you've seen the statistics, or heard them about young men raising their hand for opportunities when they're, let's say, 20% prepared, and young women waiting often until they're 80% prepared. And you're encouraging people to raise their hand and to step out of their comfort zone, which is so important for young women. And I do think it's important when we talk about you were heading up your student council. These are tremendous leadership opportunities that can be early seeds for future success. Okay, so you've worked with a lot of women in your career. Do you see any pitfalls or any advice that particularly you would like to give to young women?

Julie Lily: Oh, there's so much. So exciting to be a young woman now on the brink of a wonderful career. This is going to sound really sort of silly, perhaps. But if you know me, I smile a lot. And I think there's this misperception that women have to act tough to be taken seriously, to be respected. Maybe more than men, women have to have this persona, as, "I'm tough." And I am tough. I have to make tough decisions, and that's just part of a career. But I try to do this with kindness, to express warmth. That's natural to me, that's who I am. And I think that has helped me so much, again, build these relationships with people over time. So be yourself. That's my advice. Be yourself. If your personality is such that you're smiling and a sense of humor is important to you, well, then show that. There's no particular sort of way that is required for women to earn the respect of colleagues.

Beth Chesterton: Fantastic advice. I really want to thank you for your time. If people want more of you or they want to follow you, where can they find you on social media or where can they look you up?

Julie Lily: Well, I'm on LinkedIn and I love to have people follow me there, Julie Lilly, St. Louis Trust & Family Office. And happy just to connect with people through that media or in any other way.

Beth Chesterton: Okay, fantastic. And I really want to thank you for taking the time today, Julie. This is going to be very helpful for young women and men everywhere. Thank you so much.

Julie Lily: Such a pleasure. You're so kind to have asked me to be on this podcast. It's really an honor to do it.

Beth Chesterton: Well, the honor is ours. Thank you to anyone and everyone who's listening today. And if you want more information, you can follow us at abctoceo.com. And you can also subscribe to the podcast you're listening to. When you subscribe, it helps us create more content and do a better job of spreading the word on how to help young women prepare for the possibility of CEO. Thank you very much.

As CEO of St. Louis Trust & Family Office, Julia J. Lilly (Julie) is responsible for client service and satisfaction, finance, business development and strategic planning. Julie is a member of the Management, Risk Management, Trust and Information Technology Steering Committees.

Prior to joining St. Louis Trust & Family Office, Julie spent over 20 years at Lewis Rice LLC, a leading regional law firm headquartered in St. Louis. After several years practicing law in the Trusts and Estates group, she spent the last 15 years leading the firm’s Operations team. As Chief Operating Officer, Julie had responsibility for human resources, finance, budgeting and billing, technology, facilities and marketing. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, cum laude, and a law degree from Washington University, where she graduated first in her class. Julie is a 2018 St. Louis Business Journal Most Influential Business Women honoree.

Away from work, Julie serves on the Boards of the St. Louis Regional Business Council, the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation, City Academy, the St. Louis Zoo Association and the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation. She also serves on the Boards of Auto Club Enterprises, located in Costa Mesa, California, and AAA, Inc. She is the past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mary Institute Country Day School (MICDS), her alma mater. She loves to play golf with her family, travel, read, share a bottle of wine with friends and walk the beach in search of the perfect seashell.