Team size: 210 

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

At Grupo Coppel we have built a very effective dynamic so that all strategic business areas have permanent dialogue and collaboration, to form a precise, exact and coordinated mechanism. The legal area has been particularly successful in positioning itself as a business enabler, which proactively detects and reacts to the challenges and opportunities of business goals. 

In moments of instability or crisis, the priority is to be clear about the problem, focus on its risks and implications with a 360 view, and allocate the necessary efforts between each of the areas to build resilience and generate business continuity. We have a permanent Risk Committee, which gives us speed and a wide margin of action. This is what we demonstrate with Covid-19 and other crises we have faced. 

What are the main cases or transactions you have been involved in recently? 

I have actively participated in investments related to Afores and funds abroad. In 2022 we established a Trust Stock Certificate for Investment Projects (Cerpi) that, last year alone, managed to close 28 funds for a total amount of US$2.73bn. In 2024 we have advanced with 11 participations that represent 740 million dollars. We are also working on CKDs, Fibras and Cerpis in transactions yet to close. 

Ivanhoe Cambridge’s participation in the “Gran Ciudad” fund was also acquired, via Afore through Cerpi, for MX$2.25bn, approved by COFECE, and concluded in December 2023. 

What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with Mexico’s data protection laws? 

For some time now, at Grupo Coppel we have taken on the challenge of generating our own capabilities so that digital transformation is embedded in the business genes. We have specialised areas, and from the legal department, we built a dedicated platform for the proper and careful management of all sensitive information that was above the standards established by law, and thereby guarantee the protection of the life cycle of the data. 

For our clients, suppliers and the relationship with authorities, building trust necessarily involves taking care of all the data we manage as a company with absolute confidentiality. 

Thus, in the digital transformation strategy, we provide advice from the legal area to have internal processes that take care of the data, establish high-fidelity controls in its management, and we permanently review privacy notices. We have a very rigorous control from start to finish based on ethics, confidentiality and traceability. 

How do you manage and motivate your legal team to ensure high performance and professional growth?  

I am convinced that the best way to lead is to do so by example. Thus, management and motivation start from what one does, transmits and generates. 

Added to this is a dynamic of knowing what our mission is within the company, and how this mission fits with the individual and collective growth of people. It is acting with congruence, vision and commitment. 

Also, at Grupo Coppel we have worked for corporate citizenship with a philosophy focused on results, growth based on merit, and recognition of talent. In this exercise, involving the team in decision-making, opening channels for critical thinking, and promoting development have been key to having a professional, successful and motivated legal area.