Underneath glittering stage lights the bass player and keyboardist pound out a melody. The lead singer sidles up to the microphone and belts out “American Idiot” with enough angst to fool anyone into believing he’s a member of a teenage garage band.
But this summer festival is no Woodstock.
It’s the Cul-de-Sac of Fire, an annual neighborhood block party, complete with face-painting, cotton candy, and grandpas lounging in lawn chairs. The band is ManageThis, a group of executives from Symantec, the Fortune 500 company responsible for Norton AntiVirus. And the woman behind the keyboard is Carine Clark, the senior vice president and CMO for the global corporation and the group’s most reluctant star.
“I am a more behind-the-scenes kind of girl,” Clark explains. “I like to be the one backstage pulling the strings.”
While Clark likes to quietly call the shots, her remarkable career has thrust her into the spotlight. During the past twenty years, the Marriott School EMBA graduate has consistently led major companies like Novell and Altiris to success. Now working for Symantec, Clark is responsible for global campaigns, field marketing, branding, and communications.
But Clark’s interests don’t end in the corporate jungle. She’s a wife, mother of two, world traveler, avid cross-stitcher, and of course, a rock star. Her life is like a track pieced together by Freddie Mercury: exciting, fast-paced, and very complex.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Clark’s journey began in the Bavarian Alps. The oldest child in a military family, Clark spent her formative years in Germany while her father served two tours of duty as a combat-heavy brigade commander in the corps of engineers, eventually retiring as a colonel.
“My father knew he wanted to go to college and the only way to afford it was to join the military,” Clark says.
Her father’s determination to be well-informed rubbed off on Clark who received an excellent real-world education in Germany. She learned a second language, embraced a new culture, and earned a high school diploma.
Interestingly enough, Clark’s maiden name, Strom, has German roots; it means electricity. Nothing could better describe the woman whose brilliant tenacity helped her climb the corporate ladder.
Working Nine to Five
Although Clark had originally planned to become a librarian, she decided to pursue her love of technology after graduating from BYU. When a position in international marketing became available at Novell, Clark snatched it up.
She spent fourteen years at Novell, working through different levels of marketing and gaining valuable experience.
In the middle of a difficult pregnancy, Clark ended her time at Novell. Just when she was prepared to take some well-deserved time off, Altiris came calling. The company was going public and wanted Clark to build a marketing team.
Clark politely declined, saying, “I need to be a crossing guard. They work outside with children, get a groovy uniform, and have good hours.”
But Altiris wasn’t giving up. They offered her a three-month position and said she could decide if she wanted to come back following her pregnancy. She couldn’t resist.
Clark built a campaign for the fledgling company and then took time off to have her youngest son. Throughout her maternity leave Altiris courted Clark with cards and flowers. “They were very, very smart,” Clark laughs.
Eventually Clark returned to Altiris to head up the marketing team. It was one of the best career moves she ever made.
In just four years, Clark’s leadership helped cement the company as a technology powerhouse and grow revenues by more than $168 million. It seemed like nothing could go wrong.
But when Altiris was acquired by Symantec three years ago, Clark thought her days were numbered.
Then the phone rang.
“They asked me to run marketing for the whole company,” Clark says. “I was so surprised. Symantec could get anyone they wanted.”
Before Clark accepted the position, she asked for a final stipulation: she wanted to live in Utah—something Clark never thought she’d say after growing up abroad.
True to Your School
When Clark finished high school in Germany, she flirted with the idea of attending schools like Columbia, West Point, or the Colorado Institute of Art. Her parents had other ideas.
One day her father, who she lovingly calls the colonel, told her that while she could go anywhere she wanted, her parents would prefer she attend BYU.
That was enough for Clark. She registered for classes even though she’d never been to Utah.
“When I got off the plane, I said, ‘This is the place? I don’t think so.’”
The transition was a difficult one. Clark felt out of touch with the American way of life, not to mention Utah’s own brand of culture. But after a command from the colonel to “stick it out,” things improved. She earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication, married her college sweetheart, and made Utah her home.
Takin’ Care of Business
While Clark’s home base is now Utah, company headquarters are in California, leading to a near-weekly commute. It takes her only an hour and a half to get there, but Clark admits she’s not likely to do it forever. Despite logging more than 1.6 million air miles, Clark hates to fly but loves the experiences she has when she steps off the plane.
On a trip with her husband to Cape Town, South Africa, Clark gained new insight into her role as a leader when visiting the shanty towns surrounding the city.
“The people haven’t had opportunities or education,” Clark says. “They don’t even have a common language. We have so much to do to make sure that people have their basic needs met. I was changed by that trip.”
Clark brought home those lessons from South Africa and strives to apply them every day as she makes decisions for her team.
“When I look at my responsibilities for Symantec, it weighs heavily on me,” Clark says. “If I have to cut employment, I understand that means someone will not have soccer lessons or hearing aids for elderly parents. I am very aware of the impact those decisions have on other people.”
With a drive for success, Clark finds her greatest challenge is dealing with people who operate with a scarcity mentality: the belief that resources are too limited to share.
“They don’t want to win big enough to give up anything,” Clark explains. “These people who aren’t willing to dream about what could happen are crippling to a company.”
The opposite approach, an abundance mentality, is Clark’s sole mode of operation. The mantra: make a sacrifice now and gain a bigger payout later.
Clark’s ideology was tested when the company was integrating a new platform that would simplify products for customers. While the company believed in the project, not one of the fifteen execs sitting around the boardroom table was willing to give up man-hours to make it a reality. Clark stepped up, offering a headcount to the project.
“No one could believe that I wanted it badly enough to give up something right now to have something better later,” Clark says.
The rewards for Clark’s abundance mentality came pouring in. The project quickly advanced and put Symantec ahead of its competition.
Mamma Mia
With the weight of a corporation on her shoulders, it’s easy to wonder how Clark manages all her responsibilities, especially as a working mom.
She’s highly organized, preparing a weekly family calendar, coordinating carpools, and making sure her work doesn’t interfere with family life.
For example, Clark always takes the last flight of the day during her weekly visits to California, and she keeps her luggage out of sight to give the family a sense of stability.
“I tuck my kids in, make sure the lunches are made for the next day, and then leave for the airport. I get in late, but it’s all good because the little dudes are happy. I come back on the flight the next evening so it seems like I just had a long workday.”
When she’s in California she gives wake-up calls via her cell, and she’s been known to send a text message from underneath the boardroom table every now and then—“Do you have your backpack?” or “Good luck in debate today!”
Still Clark admits that she couldn’t do it alone. She gives much of the credit to her husband, Bryan, who is very involved. The family has also had the same nanny for nearly sixteen years.
“I’m sensitive to the fact that there are working moms who don’t have the resources that I have to make things easier,” Clark says. “People say, ‘You have it all.’ But it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I would rather spend more time with my husband and my sons, but since I have to work, I’m driven to give them an awesome life.”
Old Time Rock and Roll
That drive carries over to Clark’s personal interests. An avid music fan, Clark has an iPod overflowing with tunes representing all genres: classical, pop, folk. But Clark’s real love is rock and roll.
When a group of employees approached Clark with the idea to form a corporate band five years ago, she offered her keyboard to the venture. But the four bandmates wanted more than just her instrument. They wanted her on stage.
Clark resisted at first. She’d taken only classical piano lessons. But the group did not give up, eventually roping Clark in at a company party performance.
“I think they needed a girl and some keys,” Clark admits. “But it’s really the boys who are unbelievably talented.”
The band now plays a gig a month and has nearly sixty songs in its set, mostly cover tunes. ManageThis has played in venues ranging from Clark’s son’s high school prom to Las Vegas—they even played a gig in Malta.
And last October ManageThis took its show to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where the band competed in the Battle of the Corporate Bands. While they didn’t take home the grand prize, Clark and her bandmates had a blast jamming with some of the best bands in the country.
With all of Clark’s other responsibilities, the band might have become just another thing on the to-do list, but ManageThis is actually a family affair. Clark’s husband serves as official band roadie, hoisting equipment and cheering the band on at its gigs. Clark’s sons even jam with the band.
When Clark’s youngest son told her, “You are so much cooler than the other moms,” Clark answered in true rocker fashion, “I know, dude. I know.”
While Clark is a mix tape of varying experiences, her life has been bound together by a common thread: determination. Whether she’s pounding out power chords with the band or hammering down policy in the office, Clark doesn’t stop until she gets the job right.
Her experience brings to mind the words of rockers AC/DC: “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.”
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Article written by Megan Bingham
Photography by Jed Wells
