About

Michele Ischiara was promoted to Gemalto’s general counsel Latin America in July 2010, at the age of 29 years, and built the team of six lawyers and one paralegal from scratch, recruited from different countries: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. In December 2017 she was promoted to global general counsel for one of the business units of the company, banking and payment, and now holds both positions. During her in-house career, Ischiara has spent time broadening her experience and knowledge by working in Mexico, and alongside global teams in the US and Europe covering internationally focused work and developing skills in multi-jurisdictional work. This experience has helped with her global general counsel role, as well as her Latin America coverage. During this time she also honed her M&A skills particularly on the acquisition side. In her current role, Ischiara highlights that she, ‘completely changed the structure of the legal department and the split of the sub-regions in Latin America. This was in line with company’s growth and transformation to digital services. [I] have implemented new policies for the company and have trained sales teams as per the evolution of the local regulations with new subjects that people were not conscious about – for example data privacy’.