About

Juan Pablo Restrepo currently serves as the chief counsel for multinational confectionery, food and beverage company, Mondelēz International, covering legal and compliance, and security responsibilities for Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Central America, Caribbean and US export sales to Latin America. Working for the second largest food company in the world has required him to implement a number of changes to facilitate its social initiatives and industry goals, one of which is the strategic route to market transformation, which involved his participation in changing the entire business model in Central American by shutting down direct operations in all countries except Costa Rica. He also had to work on the shutting down of the manufacturing plants in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, negotiating with the Nicaraguan Union, defining the severance negotiation strategy, negotiating with local governments and selling the real estate and plant assets. Most recently he has been tasked with selling the El Gallito business in Costa Rica, carrying out a comprehensive bidding process in order to sell its chocolate and candy business, and then the negotiation, signing and successful transfer of the business to the buyer. Amongst his internal restructuring plans, Restrepo has simplified the external service model by consolidating the external legal counsel provided by over 60 law firms down to just two law firms, bringing significant cost savings. Before joining he had an extensive career at British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, which he joined in 2006 as legal affairs manager for Colombia, eventually increasing his responsibility, with the added remit of Central America, Caribbean and Colombia.