How Serving in the Air Force Taught Me To Embrace Unexpected Work Challenges

The path that led Lauren Perone Jones, vice president and senior managing counsel at Mastercard, to where she is today has been far from direct. After graduating law school with a license to work in New York and Connecticut — but then moving to Texas with her then-fiancé, a 1LT in the Army — she decided to apply to the USAF JAG (Judge Advocate General’s) Corps. In 2010, while her husband deployed to Afghanistan, she attended officer training, and her career took a path that she hadn’t expected while she was studying law.

Now, her days at Mastercard involve covering the large majority of U.S. financial institutions with whom Mastercard is a partner — negotiating contracts, as well as analyzing and advising on all legal issues that may arise concerning such U.S. financial institutions. When she’s not solving complex problems at work, she continues to serve as a Major in the JAG Corps.

“The role has allowed me to hone my analytical skills and has required me to be as efficient as possible with time management,” she says. “I have also enjoyed the leadership opportunities I’ve been afforded as a manager.”

Here, we caught up with her to learn more about those leadership opportunities and the scope of her career journey. 

To begin, can you share what your career journey has been like up to this point? What attracted you to working at Mastercard?

I have been a reserve Judge Advocate (JAG) for 14 years and was on active orders for the majority of my first few years as an officer. Not only did I love being a JAG, but serving in the military allowed me to move with my husband while also maintaining a career as an attorney. When my husband left the army in 2015, we decided to move back to New York. He had received a job offer at a large financial institution, and I could pursue my interest in becoming an in-house attorney for a corporate entity.

The job search wasn’t easy. Most individuals who are hiring for in-house roles look for lawyers coming off of the more traditional law firm track. I worked hard to ensure that those who interviewed me understood that my role as a JAG had provided me with the background that I needed to effectively serve as an in-house attorney. JAGs are essentially in-house counsels for the service branch that we represent. The main difference is that in addition to providing day-to-day legal advice for a base, we also serve as prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges.

In 2015, I was offered an in-house position with a large financial firm. I stayed there for almost four years but decided to move on from that role to a Senior Counsel position at Mastercard. I was drawn to Mastercard because, as a company, they seemed to understand that they were hiring a whole person. Yes, I’m an attorney, but I’m also a mother, a wife, a daughter, and an officer in the Air Force. My last role made it difficult to integrate my life with my career, and as a mother of small children, this was particularly exhausting and difficult. I was attracted to Mastercard because it offered me the opportunity to work for a highly regarded global company, in a high-profile and dynamic space in a way that allowed me to integrate the other aspects of my life in a way that allowed me to succeed.

While at Mastercard, you’ve grown your career from being a Senior Counsel to Vice President, Senior Managing Counsel. How did you achieve this growth, and how did Mastercard support you along the way?

I have had some great mentors that have guided me through my time here. Most of these mentors have been other women at the company, and for that, I’m exceedingly grateful. When I started as a Senior Counsel, I knew almost nothing about the payments industry. Even though I had come to Mastercard from a very large financial institution, I had worked as an attorney in the investment bank side of such an institution. I spent the majority of my first year at Mastercard trying to learn and understand as much as I could from the attorneys around me. I also made sure to partner with and learn from the business teams that we support — they too had so much to offer.

As my time progressed, I built relationships and became as engrained in the company as I could. During that time, I joined and then became the chapter co-lead of the Mastercard SALUTE business resource group for military veterans and families. This was another way to meet people and learn as much as possible about Mastercard.

Three years after joining, I was promoted to Senior Managing Counsel. I don’t think this would have been possible without the support that both Mastercard and the leadership team of those I report to hadn’t given me the space to be able to integrate my personal life with my career. The culture at Mastercard is such that I know that I can prioritize my family and not be judged for doing so. It may require adjustment of working hours for a day as the work is always there and doesn’t just go away, but Mastercard trusts me to be reliable, responsive, and meet deadlines — this trust is of utmost importance to success.

As someone who is also an assistant staff judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, how do your roles complement one another? Have you gained any skills in either of these roles that have enabled you to excel in the other?

The Air Force has no problem putting you in an unfamiliar situation. They do it with purpose because they want Airmen to be able to succeed no matter where they are planted. As such, the Air Force has taught me how to tackle unfamiliar problems and not be afraid of them. This is something that carries through into my civilian career and even my personal life. When our first child was born, I joked with my husband that the best training for having a baby was the training I had received in the Air Force.

The Air Force has taught me how to interact with individuals at every level of any organization, from C-Suite executives and General Officers to the most junior Airmen. This experience has allowed me to understand how to be personable with individuals of many different backgrounds and skill sets. In addition, the amount of leadership training I have received as an Air Force Officer is far more extensive than anything I can receive in my civilian capacity. I try to apply the leadership skills that I’ve acquired as an Air Force officer in my civilian role as a manager every single day.

Do you have any advice for women who are pursuing a career in the financial industry? What lessons have you learned that you would share with women hoping to enter this industry?

It’s a tough industry to be in. There are a lot of expectations, and the hours can be long and sometimes thankless. The financial industry, like so many other industries, was, for a long time, predominated by men. Many of the women who have come before us have worked hard to change that. We need to keep working hard to continue to change that. Reach out to other women in the career fields that you’re interested in working in and use them as a resource (and if you are lucky, a mentor). If you have an idea as to how something may be improved upon, speak up and be a part of change for the positive. As a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, I’m a firm believer in women supporting other women and have taken this with me on every step of my journey.

Finding balance can sometimes be tricky. As someone who is balancing being a mother, reservist, and attorney in Mastercard’s Purchase HQ, how do you find balance? And how does Mastercard empower you to maintain this balance?

I’m not sure that I always succeed at balance, but I try. As I mentioned before, Mastercard allows you to bring your whole self to your job. Mastercard understands that we all have responsibilities and interests outside of work and that these responsibilities and interests are what make us unique and valuable to the organization. Mastercard allows for my work and life to be integrated, and that has been key to my successes here.

In particular, do you have any advice for working parents who are trying to balance career growth with parenthood?

I always remind myself that, even though it may be tiring, a contract or a work deadline will always be there, but my kids will grow and change with every year. There are days that I need to step away because it’s a priority to me to be there for my kids’ big moments. There are also days when I’m working late at night, and I don’t get to see my kids before they go to bed.

Just like your job expects you to be there for the big moments, do your best to be there for the big moments for your children, but keep in mind that big moments don’t always have to be all of the graduations and all of the soccer and lacrosse games. The big moments can also be moments that are seemingly small but have a big impact on your relationship with your children. My children also understand that there is a certain amount of sacrifice on their part regarding having parents who work full-time jobs (or multiple jobs for that matter). We should know that even when we aren’t present, we’re setting an example for our children. I want my daughter to see me work hard, succeed, and know that she can be a mother and have a fulfilling career. I also want her to see and know that it’s not easy, and that it takes hard work, stamina, and perseverance to get to where you need to go. These are all lessons that your children can learn from you as a working parent.

In your capacity as a reservist, tell us what you’ve learned from that experience living and working at different stations.

I’ve had the opportunity to work at both domestic and overseas bases and have learned so much from living and working in areas that are unfamiliar to me. As I mentioned before, the military teaches you to be comfortable in unfamiliar environments. I have benefited from more travel experiences than I would otherwise have had and love getting to spend time at some of our European bases.

However, I think that I learned the most from some of my domestic assignments. Having been born and raised in the New York City metro area, there were many parts of our own country that I had never seen let alone lived in. I may not have loved all of the assignments that we received, but I learned so much about our country and our differences and similarities. Those experiences have allowed me to understand so much more about our strengths and weaknesses as a nation and why and how we got to where we are today. These are all things I may not have seen or understood had I simply stayed in the NYC metro area for the majority of my life.