About

Fabio Riva assumed his current position as global legal director for multinational drinks and brewing holding company AB InBev in March 2017. Prior to this position, he worked for seven years at AB InBev in Latin America, where he was in charge of litigation, competition, anti-corruption compliance, real estate and intellectual property matters. Amongst his career highlights he led legal support to Budweiser’s successful global project involving the sponsorship of FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, leading it to become the most talked about brand in social networks during the tournament. ‘This project made me aware of the legal challenge of a major sponsorship initiative comprising sales, marketing, traditional, and experiential and digital and supply areas’, says Riva. Some of his most notable transactions include supporting the integration of the legal practice of the world’s second largest brewery, SABMiller, into AB InBev after the U$100bn acquisition of the company. Riva is currently leading a transformational project on the global IP practice of AB InBev, which entails developing and launching a number of cutting-edge tools to better manage the trademark portfolio of 500 brands and 21,000 trademark files in over 160 countries. His internal achievements include, together with his team, launching the first edition of the AB InBev IP awards, which aims at recognising IP firms and in-house colleagues across the world that deliver concrete results in connection with AB InBev’s global IP strategy. Amongst his other career highlights he also mentions his proposal and implementation of the merger between AB InBev teams in charge of IP and general legal support to the global marketing function, both of which are now under his responsibility. ‘Such a merger has brought very positive results for the business world’, says Riva. Prior to working in-house he also worked for more than seven years in top-tier law firms in New York, Brussels and São Paulo.