HOLLI HART TARGAN:
 




 
 
 
 
 
Partner in the Southfield office of law firm Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss. Targan is secretary of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Transactions Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing the electronic payments business. She is also a founder and president of Women Networking in Electronic Transactions www.w-net.biz, a non-profit organization that endeavors to inspire and empower women in the electronic transactions industry through networking opportunities, education, and mentoring programs. Targan graduated from James Madison College at Michigan State University. She is also a graduate of Wayne State University Law School, where she was associate editor of The Wayne Law Review. She is a member of the Michigan, Maryland, and District of Columbia Bars, and the American Bar Association, Cyberspace Law Committee.


WHERE BORN: "Detroit."

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: "My parents. Mainly for never imposing any boundaries on what they felt I could accomplish. My father was an entrepreneur and his motto was ’Just do it.’ He believed in no boundaries. He died nine years ago of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His grace and dignity during that horrible illness will never leave me. My mom and my dad have been my guideposts on how I approach my career and life in general."

LAST BOOK READ: "I usually have a few going at the same time. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin; The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman; and the short story collections of Alice Munro."

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: "Focused, attentive to detail, able to get things done, always looking at the big picture and what’s on the horizon, pragmatic, down to earth, approachable, driven."

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: "I'm an attorney in the electronic payments industry. Electronic payments are experiencing explosive growth in innovation and opportunity. Entrepreneurs are always thinking of new ways to make it easier for customers and merchants. Industry pioneers are creative in coming up with what’s new. Now they’re using your fingerprints and driver license to do the next big thing. With the law, it’s like putting the square peg of those technologies into the round hole of old laws. We’re guiding companies who are thinking about these amazing new things and how to apply those things to the existing law."

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: "Blackberry and iPod. I recently started in the whole new world of podcasting. It’s so cool that you can get any type of information and download it to listen to."

FAVORITE PLACE: "One is my screened-in porch in our cottage in Hartland. Second is Washington, D.C., where I practiced law for five years. I love those two places."

FAVORITE HOBBIES: "Travel – I love exploring the history of a place I’ve never been to before. I read a broad range of historical biographies, literature, and business-improvement books. I could not do without the Sunday New York Times."

FAVORITE FOOD: "Hands down, chocolate."

MY HIDDEN TALENT: "Probably mentoring people to reach their full potential. Most has been for women and up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Also, encouraging women to network in the electronic transactions industry, mentoring to give them those types of leadership opportunities. Also, here we are in 2006, and it’s still an anomaly to see a successful woman who’s married and has children. I think it’s really important to bring people along and help them achieve their own success."

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: "As someone who showed others through my personal actions. To have assured them and shown by my experience that a woman (and a man) can really have it all. And as someone who put forth the effort to go for it."

Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2014, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.