In this mini episode of ALPS In Brief, our Bar & Affinity Partner Strategist Rio Peterson sits down with Mary Jane Pickens, Executive Director at the West Virginia State Bar to discuss the importance of bar partnerships, how they create value for members, and the pivotal role bars play in the legal community. — Transcript:  Rio Lane:  All right. Hello everybody. We are back for another mini-installment of the ALPS in Brief podcast. I am your host, Rio Lane, and I am talking today with Mary Jane Pickens, who's the executive director of the West Virginia Bar. Hi.  Mary Jane Pickens:  Hey, how are you?  Rio Lane:  I'm good. How are you doing?  Mary Jane Pickens:  Wonderful. Very, very happy to be back in Montana. It's a beautiful, beautiful place.  Rio Lane:  Wonderful. Yes. Thank you for joining us. I'm happy you're here too. I love Missoula. It's such a lovely city.  Mary Jane Pickens:  It is. It's fun. We went out and just took a quick walk this morning, and it's a wonderful little place. Lots of good stuff here.  Rio Lane:  It is. It absolutely is. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about yourself, Mary Jane. What's your background, and how did you come to the Bar Association?  Mary Jane Pickens:  Well, I've done a lot of different things. When I first became an executive director, I went to one of the ABA annual meetings, and they had us a boot camp for brand new executive directors, and you had to pick out a song. It was an icebreaker thing, and they would play your song and you were supposed to jump up and say, "That's my song." And my song was Long and Winding Road by the Beatles.  Rio Lane:  Oh, nice.  Mary Jane Pickens:  Because I felt like I had had a rather long and winding road to get to the bar. I graduated from law school. I went to Ohio Northern University, so I did not go to law school in West Virginia. Came back to West Virginia because it's my home, and went into private practice in a small firm, kind of a little boutiquey... We mostly did bankruptcy work. And did that for about 15 years and decided I needed a change and had an opportunity to go to the Insurance Commissioner's office in the state of West Virginia. And shortly thereafter, became general counsel for the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner. And I was there for about 11 or 12 years. And then I went to a large firm, did mostly government relations and lobbying mostly around the insurance industry.  Rio Lane:  Yeah.  Mary Jane Pickens:  Did that for about three years. And then because I love public service, it's where my heart is, I had a chance to go back to the state and be the executive director of the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management, which provides all of the property and liability insurance for the state of West Virginia, and also simultaneously be the Deputy Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Administration, which provides all the back office-y stuff and services for the rest of government.  Rio Lane:  Oh, wow.  Mary Jane Pickens:  And I was able to be acting cabinet secretary during 2016 during Governor Earl Ray Tomblin's last year, and then had a chance to go to the state bar, and that's where I am now. So it's kind of a long and winding road.  Rio Lane:  Yeah, yeah. That's really interesting. And you've been at the bar for two years?  Mary Jane Pickens:  Yes. I hit my two-year official mark on July 1.  Rio Lane:  Oh, congratulations. Congratulations.  Mary Jane Pickens:  Thank you.  Rio Lane:  Yeah. How are you liking it? Do you find it's a lot different than what you were doing before?  Mary Jane Pickens:  It is a lot different. It's still considered a state agency, but it's in the judicial branch. I've always been in the executive branch, so there's a lot of differences there. But it still is that public service feeling like you have constituents, you have customers, and you're there to help folks. And so that's what I love about it.  Rio Lane:  Yeah, that's fantastic. How do you find working with a bo