About

Joining Fujitsu over four years ago, Maria Strada was charged with setting up the overall office function in her role as head of commercial and legal for Italy, which then expanded to cover Greece and Israel from July 2014. Involved in the creation of the department from the beginning, Strada has implemented several practices including outlining office standards and rules of engagement within the department, to help navigate the minefield of issues the technology industry throws up for the commercial and legal parts of the business. Enjoyment of her role lies within the continual progress towards ‘end to end involvement in the business’. Despite the fact that this has yet to be achieved completely, her team are enjoying a ‘step by step, growing relevance within the organisation’ achieved via ‘slowly growing the team by showing the value of legal and commercial in growing business profitability’. Strada enjoys strong relationships with external law firms, calling them ‘good interpreters’ of her needs who all ‘speak the language of business’. The latter is extremely important to Strada, as opinions given to her by firms must be understandable by whoever reads them within the company.