Executive Appointment to CLO: An Expert Interview with Anuja Purohit

RTI’s President and CEO Tim J. Gabel recently announced three new executive appointments effective Jan. 1, 2025. Anuja Purohit has been selected as the new the executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary (also referred to as the Chief Legal Officer (CLO)). She will leverage more than 25 years of legal experience to oversee RTI’s legal affairs as well as ethics, enterprise risk, regulatory compliance and privacy. Since joining RTI in 2006, Anuja has made significant contributions to key initiatives including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and staff rewards programs. She most recently served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel providing senior leadership, direction and execution for the ethics, labor and employment law and international legal functions for the institute. Below Anuja shares a behind-the-scenes look at some of the secrets to her success.

Where did you grow up and how did you end up where you are now?

I grew up in a small town in Ohio called Urbana with my parents and two brothers. We were the first family from the subcontinent of India to make this town our home. Our parents instilled in us a love of learning and encouraged us to pursue educational and job opportunities. It was through witnessing some of my mother’s experiences and struggles to practice her profession in a new country, that I was inspired to study law. That, in a nutshell, is how I found myself in Durham, North Carolina, studying law at Duke University School of Law. After graduating, I worked as a lawyer locally, relocated to California, and eventually found my way back to the Research Triangle, where I was fortunate to land my dream job as an in-house attorney at RTI in 2006. Eighteen years later, I’m still living the dream as RTI’s Chief Legal Officer.

Share the story of your career path or describe what sparked your passion for your current field. What pivotal moments defined your journey to becoming an executive?

My journey began in the foothills of the Himalayas. My parents were healthcare professionals, who served the people of India and later patients in rural Ohio; they have always been my biggest cheerleaders and a great source of inspiration.

My mother was a dentist, and my father was a physician. My father initially came to the U.S. for advanced training in his field. Due to a shortage of medical doctors, he was offered employment and invited to remain in the U.S. permanently to help fulfill the needs of people in rural Ohio. My mother’s professional journey in our adopted country was more challenging. The rules in Ohio for foreign dental graduates were very strict at the time, and her dental degree from India was not recognized, so she raised three children while pursuing an advanced degree in prosthodontics. After she graduated from her master’s program, she learned that although she was permitted to teach dental students, she could not practice dentistry, which is what she wanted to do. Fortunately, my mother was not easily deterred. She traveled to New York and Florida and underwent rigorous requirements to obtain her license to practice in both those states. She had also been working in parallel, with our local state legislator, and together, they succeeded in changing the rules, so that she and others like her could practice dentistry in our state.

The desire to serve people and alleviate suffering is something my parents instilled in me and initially, I wanted to be a healthcare provider too. However, after witnessing my mother’s experience, I became interested in how rules and regulations affect the everyday lives of people, which is what propelled me to pursue a law degree and to work as an in-house lawyer for RTI to help navigate the complex rules and regulations that govern our institute and work.

As an executive, my role is to help RTI achieve greater heights as we collectively strive to meet our North Star Goal of positively impacting 1 billion lives by 2030.

How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? Share tips that have worked for you.

Work-life balance is important to me. I enjoy working; it gives me a sense of purpose, and I want to perform at a high level, but it is not my entire life. So, I try to stay in balance as much as possible.

I have some very basic goals, including walking (7,000 – 8,000 steps on average per day), eating a balanced diet rich with fruits and vegetables, and getting 8 hours of sleep per night on average. I also practice yoga and mindfulness on a regular basis. When I fall out of this routine, which certainly happens from time to time, I try to be gentle with myself and simply get back on track as soon as possible. I also set aspirational wellness goals at the beginning of each year. This year, I’m trying to be more intentional about bringing strength training into my routine.

Finally, I also find social connections outside of work to be particularly enriching and important to me. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends locally, traveling to visit friends and relatives who live far away, and traveling with family and friends to explore unfamiliar places.

What advice would you give to early career professionals?

Here are a few tips that have worked for me:

• Begin with the end in mind.
• You can do difficult things.
• Keep hope alive.
• Be the best version of yourself.
• Be kind to yourself and others.
• Pivot when necessary.
• Don’t forget to relax and enjoy the ride.