About

Jose Ignacio Merino has 16 years of legal experience in the mining, financial services and healthcare industries. A skilled negotiator and specialist in legal and compliance frameworks, Merino boasts industry-wide reputation for his ability to manage multidisciplinary and multicultural teams in different jurisdictions. Merino joined Abbott Laboratories in November 2014 when the pharma company acquired CFR Pharmaceuticals. His priority after this appointment was to lead the implementation of Abbott’s corporate policies in the acquired company, without compromising productivity. He managed to achieve this goal by ensuring smooth compliance with US Foreign Corruption Practice Act (FCPA) regulation and actively seeking compliance synergies among affiliates in Latin America, enabling Abbot to save 20% of its budget. Another major achievement during Merino’s time at Abbott involves the design and execution of a full compliance program to be implemented in the Southern Cone of Latin America, following a deep compliance assessment of each individual country. Before joining Abbott, Merino served as head of legal and compliance at Energia Andina NCRE, a company engaged in geothermal energy exploration. His relatively short stint there was full of important professional victories, including the successful negotiation and closing of contracts to guarantee $100m worth of green energy projects, presenting a plan to develop 500 MW in geothermal energy concessions and advising the company on the commercial and business strategy for 12 renewable energy projects in Chile. Previously, Merino served as senior lawyer and chief compliance officer at financial services company ING and at law firm Assouline & Berlowe.