About

Kimberly-Clark, the US-based global hygiene products company which produces numerous distinguished personal and baby care brands including Huggies and Kleenex, entered Chile in 1994 and currently operates a production plant located in the commune of Lampa. After joining the Chilean branch of Kimberley-Clark in early 2016 as head of legal, María de Lourdes Velásquez proved an almost instant success with her ability to ‘understand the business environment, anticipate scenarios, contingencies and business opportunities’, according to one source. With her help Chile’s national competition regulator closed a 13 month case against Kimberly-Clark Chile for an alleged collusion to fix the price of nappies without handing it any sanctions. Velásquez was recruited as a result of her successful six and a half year stint at Melon, a leading producer and supplier of cement and construction materials in Chile. From mid-2008 until early 2015, she was head of legal and public affairs manager for Melon and led the two departments with a total of 10 people, reporting directly to the company’s CEO. In terms of legal work she demonstrated a superior skill-set in the areas of civil, labour, commercial, mining, environmental, real state, antitrust regulations, financial and corporate law. Velásquez was a senior associate at law firm Carey between 2002 and 2008, but her first taste of in-house life was at VTR GlobalCom in 2001 to 2002.