Laying the Foundation for Success: Richard Negrin
“Champions are made when no one is watching; that is what my offensive line coach in college told me,” says Richard Negrin, vice president and associate general counsel at ARAMARK, a leader in professional services, providing food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world. “He taught me that what happens in the arena is determined by how much time is spent preparing and laying the foundation,” says Negrin, who now also serves as a member of ARAMARK’s Executive Leadership Council at the company’s global headquarters in Philadelphia.
This advice has helped Negrin lay a solid professional foundation for achievement by carefully building his own team of lawyers and learning the needs of his clients at ARAMARK.
“It’s the same whether you’re a high-level athlete or an attorney, particularly a litigator or corporate lawyer,” adds Negrin, who knows firsthand what it takes to succeed in both sports and law. At Wagner College on Staten Island, N.Y., Negrin was a consensus football All-American and captain of the team, as well as the recipient of pre-law academic honors, before graduating in 1987. During the next two years, Negrin played professionally in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets.
While Negrin describes football as a “pleasant diversion,” the Cuban American attorney claims his ultimate goal had always been a career in the legal profession. After earning his law degree from Rutgers University School of Law in 1995, Negrin joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor in the major trials unit, where he handled high-profile cases such as the assault on former Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney. “For five years, I was able to serve the public in a meaningful way,” says Negrin. “To have been given the opportunity to use my newly acquired skills to help crime victims, particularly victims of hate crimes, was very gratifying.”
Negrin spent the next five years as a litigator at Morgan Lewis’ Philadelphia office, where his work ranged from internal corporate investigations to more traditional health care fraud and abuse cases. According to Negrin, as a member of the best white collar/litigation group in Philadelphia, he was privileged to learn the ins and outs of private practice in a topnotch environment. Negrin left knowing he still had more to learn, but ARAMARK’s offer was too good to let go. Still, he says, it was a challenge to walk away. The growth and development opportunities available now in his in-house role at ARAMARK confirm that he made the right choice.
Throughout his life, Negrin has learned valuable, sometimes life-altering, lessons from mentors, not all of whom have been football coaches.
At age 13, he witnessed the assassination of his father, one of 75 representatives of the Cuban community in exile who successfully negotiated with the Cuban government to release over 3,000 political prisoners. Not far from his northern New Jersey home, Negrin’s father was shot to death by members of Omega 7, a radical anti-Castro group that violently condemned any dealings with the dictator’s government.
Later the same day, Negrin’s pastor prayed with him, asking the boy to forgive his father’s killers. “He profoundly impacted my world,” says Negrin. “His words prevented me from becoming bitter, and consequently, it’s why I went to law school, why I remain active in the community, and why I raise my kids to do the right thing.”
Possessed of great faith, Negrin refuses to be overcome by adversity or to allow his busy schedule to prevent him from being involved in his community. As former president of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania, and currently the regional president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, he is a frequent mentor to young people; playing the role of “connected uncle” by supplying contacts and support to up-and-coming minority attorneys.
Negrin currently serves as pro bono general counsel to a national non-profit organization, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Tragically, SMA claimed the life of Negrin’s young daughter last April.
And recently, Negrin was appointed to a four-year seat on the newly formed Philadelphia Ethics Board aimed at curtailing citywide corruption.
Still heeding his coach’s advice, Negrin is certain to continue contributing both on and off the field as he makes a difference every day in the company where he works and in the community in which he lives. DB
Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, MD.
From the March/April 2007 issue of Diversity & The Bar®