Nicole Nolette, Executive Vice President, Operations, Dominion Voting Systems 
Interviewer: Michal Lev-Ram, FORTUNE 

MPW Next Gen 2023 - Dominion Voting Systems’ Victory 

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Late in the evening on November 3rd 2020 Fox News called the State of Arizona's election results in favor of Joe Biden. Soon after a series of potential voter fraud claims came from Fox Network. These claims specifically called out voter voting organizations, Dominion voting systems and Smartmatic in March of 2021 Dominion voting systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News with claims the News Network spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about Dominion last month, just days before heading to trial Dominion voting systems settled with Fox Corp for over $780 million. What may be one of the largest defamation settlement cases in us history to hear more about the impact of that settlement and what's next for Fox? Not for Fox? Sorry for Dominion voting systems. Please welcome Nicole Nolette, Executive Vice President of Operations for Dominion voting systems and Fortune editor at large, Mihal Lavra. Ok. Nicole is definitely not here to talk about what's next for Fox can speak to that. That's great. Um So, uh we're, we're gonna turn to you guys for questions very early on. I know when you introduced yourself yesterday. You got like a so I think people will wanna ask their own questions as well, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna kick things off here and I wanna start with something that was just in the news uh over the last uh day or so, which is uh these reports rumors that as part of the settlement agreement, which we just heard about, we all know about, um was this clause that Tucker Carlson would be fired? And do you wanna set the record straight for us here? I think you guys have already commented, but if you could please comment on, I would, I would love to continue to hammer this point. Home Tucker Carlson was not part of the settlement agreement between Fox and Dominion. Ok. And, and uh I think that's pretty clear. Um, but, uh, you know, this whole settlement was about this whole lawsuit was about um misinformation, defamation. Um And here we are again, you know, this kind of started spinning very quickly. So what does that tell us about what has changed and what has not? So, I think that's really interesting. I mean, number one, thank you so much for um for inviting me up here. I feel so fortunate to be part of this incredible group of women, um and to be able to tell my story and, and hopefully it resonates, um, little pieces of it will resonate with each of you. I just, I love this opportunity. So Thank you. We had two main goals when we, when we decided that we were going to take legal action against Fox News and, and several others. Fox is the first of seven legal battles that we have and we still have a very long road in this, in this legal battle. But um, it was, we had two mingles and number one was to get the truth out. And number two was to be compensated for the damages that Fox caused our company. I mean, our, our brand is destroyed at this point and we felt we wanted to get the truth out, the truth about Dominion, the truth about election and election processes and specifically the 2020 election. And um, and also, you know, compensate uh for those um the, the uh the destruction of the brand of the company. So there, there has been criticism out there, of course. Um as we all know that um an apology demanding an apology was not part of the settlement. And I'm curious to hear, I mean, from your perspective, um why wasn't it a part of the settlement? And, and, and what would it have done if anything if you had demanded an apology from Fox? Yeah. So the honest answer is is that it wouldn't have done anything. Um A forced apology on air was not something that was going to change. Our company was not something that was going to change the outcome or not. Something that was going to change elections and disinformation in the elections industry. And quite honestly, if we would have saw this through to, you know, some sort of jury decision, they couldn't have forced an apology anyway. And so it wasn't one of our main goals. Um We really just wanted to get the truth out there and I think we were incredibly successful at that. Um I wanna hear a little bit about your own personal story here because, um, while the company certainly took a big hit, um, you took a hit as well. Um, and, and you were docked and your parents, both navy veterans, um, house, their address was, was posted, uh, online. Um, and I, I think we all are curious to hear just what was it like for you personally going through the last few years? So it was, it's incredibly difficult. Um, it was, um, that moment in time and it wasn't just me, I mean, there are other employees at Dominion. Our customers certainly, um, have been threatened, their lives have been threatened. Um, this was, I, I was coming out of the doctor's office and I had missed a call from a customer and he, um, his customer is a very big customer of ours. Um, and he called and left me a voice mail and says I need you to call me back immediately and he, uh, forwarded me the, the link to this website that was enemies of the people which, um, just, it struck home, um, in an incredibly bad way. I mean, I'm a navy veteran. My parents are army veterans. And so to see that there was some, to see that there was anyone who would think that what I was doing was something contrary to democracy or to the goals of the United States was incredibly hurtful. And then to see, not just my safety threatened but my parents safety threatened because it was um you know, a picture of their house, the FBI is knocking on their door later that evening. And you know, to hear my mom go through that and to hear my mom have to have that experience when she's retired and she's worked her entire life to have a very boring retirement. She's worked very hard for that. That was incredibly unsettling and it fueled a fire that had started to burn right at that moment. Ok. Questions from the audience. Any questions for Nicole, please raise your hand, we'll bring a microphone over. Is this all relatable to you guys? No. OK. Well, let me, let me, let me try to, to make some of it relatable and please just raise your hand. We'll, we'll bring a microphone over question over here and at any point, feel free to raise your hand and if you could stand up, introduce yourself. Um I live in Atlanta and so Georgia, obviously, you know, it's a little complicated. Um I don't really have a question. I think I just have a comment because we've been watching this play out for so long. Um And I just want to applaud the efforts of Dominion. I think it was a big step um for a company to take on a new channel like that and to take on a culture like a, a society with all these culture wars where we like politicized lifestyles and politicized uh personal choices and politicized reproductive rights. And the fundamental thing that even my, my mother, uh father and grandparents fought for and marched for was voting rights. And so I just want to say, thank you. I thank you very much. And um I really appreciate your comments and it reminded me of something that Jenny had said when you were interviewing her a little earlier this morning where she said, um she was really impressed with the women that were going out and seeking conflict and, and I was reflecting on our own situation like we did not go out and fight conflict. But what we did do is we stood up to it and we're going to continue. Like I said, this is the first of seven legal battles that we have and we didn't go out and seek this conflict, but we are standing up to it and that's really important. And I Kesha thank you so much for, for your comments. I think 10 years ago, if you had stood up here and said, you know, you work and Dominion, by the way, has been around for 20 years. Uh, but if you had said Dominion people would be like, oh, what's that? I wonder we have another question over here. Hi. Um, I'm Erica Fisher. I'm, um, with, um, a software company and we've been talking today and yesterday and in various forms about how hard the last several years has been for a lot of people at operating roles, but you win. Um, so not, not a, not a prize to win, but, um, thank you. And, um, I guess my question is for a lot of us who are on the either, you know, sort of middle of, or other side of various forms of crisis. How do you, when you get to the other side of it, or at least a pause point for you personally in your career? Like, where do you go from here? How do you think about your identity and sort of what you carry forward and finding a different rhythm or, you know, when the sort of curtain closes on the, um, adrenaline? Like, how do you think about that? Because I'm sure you didn't expect this to define however many years of your career at this point. That's exactly right. And that's a great question, Erica. And thank you so much because I haven't had much time to reflect on it. But as I reflect on the, the important priorities that we have right now. Number one, I mean, or one priority obviously are the legal battles. But number two, we have an incredible amount of, of women who are supporting elections, there are customers, they are other vendors who are supporting election technology and this this enormous cohort of amazing and tenacious and bright and driven women are protecting democracy right now. And so when I think about what, you know, the next step is or another really important kind of pillar of how I'm thinking about moving past these, these crises or these legal battles is that I still need to support these women that are on the front lines and they are, you know, protecting voters, they are protecting their right to vote, they are protecting the vote counts. And that is one thing that really keeps me going because it's what keeps Dominion successful and what keeps me successful in an operating role is really focusing on those customers and ensure that they have the support through the life of, of those those government contracts. Question question up here. Can we bring a microphone over? Hi, I'm Jennifer. So you talked about having to deal with your parents and the experience that they had, obviously, this is an issue for your company, but it also became a very personal issue. And so it lit the fire for you to want to fight as you thought about settling. How did you make the decision that the right decision for the company was to settle because at least from a outside looking in perspective, you were winning the narrative and there was a lot of like, take it all, all the way to the end. How did you sort of say, ok, we're at a point where this is enough. Um Or how did you make that decision? Yeah, that's an incredibly, I mean, that's an incredible question. And um it, it was, it wasn't that it was enough, but it was right when we were on the heels of kicking the trial off. Um, you know, our uh one of our big strategies was to, you know, to, to get the truth out. And we did have a lot of information that came out um as part of the discovery process and as part of the motion for summary judgment. And so we felt like we, um one of those goals we had accomplished um with all that motion for summary judgment, discovery information coming out into the public. But secondly, um as we thought about um a long drawn out trial, I mean, our estimate was that this trial was gonna last the better part of two months. Um And we thought about the emotional toll that it was going to take on our employees as they got called to the stand and testify. Um our customers and some of our other partners in the elections industry, uh we decided that, um that, uh you know, having gotten the truth out, um, and saving our customers and our employees. Um, a lot of hardship going through a drawn out trial that, um, it was the right decision, although, you know, very mixed, very mixed emotions about that. There's no question about it. We felt like it was the right, um, the right decision for our company and for our customers. And just to point out also, I mean, you obviously you had multiple goals with this lawsuit, but one of the main ones was to compensate for damages. And I think it just checked that box. Hopefully, I I, you know, honestly setting the precedent of one of the largest media defamation settlements, puts a huge exclamation point on this. And so, you know, for some people who may think that, you know, it, you know, it doesn't make that much of an impact. I think setting that precedent, I think it makes a huge impact and it gives me a talking point when I'm up here saying that, you know, we set a precedent and that's really, it's really important. And again, it's the first of seven. OK. We'll take another question, one more question over here. Uh Christina Deloitte partner. Good to see you again. Um So my question is now that you have this success and this great platform, what's your future strategy? Uh What do you plan to do with it? Yeah. So um they're trying to get her to talk last year by the way. That's true is a big step already. We, you know, are, we're still going to continue our legal battles. But we have what, what you all may not know is that pretty much every Tuesday somebody's voting. And so, you know, since the presidential, all of 20 21 2022 which is a midterm cycle and thus far in 2023 nearly every Tuesday somebody's voting. And that's just, it's, it's incredible to know that because it's throughout the nation, somebody's at the polls voting on something on a Tuesday, not all of our customers vote on Tuesday, but most of them do. So. Um The, you know, the the other strategy is just to continue to support our customers in these local and special elections that are ongoing in this, in this odd year. And the presidential cycle for 2024 is going to start earlier than it ever has. I mean, there are jurisdictions that are shifting their primaries earlier then Super Tuesday, Nevada is going to start early voting at the end of January if you can believe that. And so really the presidential cycle is we are on the doorstep right now and so continuing on the path of supporting our customers and being as prepared for these elections is, is one of our main focuses right now. Well, uh we are going to to wrap in a second here, but I just wanna um thank you for coming here and supporting this community and being a part of it and sharing your insights. I'm guessing you're quite a hit at dinner parties over the last couple of years. Hopefully, we didn't ask you any of the annoying questions you usually get, but really, really appreciate you being with us. Absolutely. Thank you for having me.