About

Having worked in three other multinational Colombian companies in the hospitality, energy and industrials sectors, Juan Pablo Barrera joined Hoteles Decameron in 2014 to build its legal team essentially from scratch. Although Decameron is a multinational company with hospitality operations in nine countries and commercial operations in many more, with more than 12,000 direct employees, it did not have a legal department when he arrived. Barrera created the structure of the legal department, and at the same time provided the legal support required by an organisation that was undergoing a transformation and expansion process. He says that, ‘we now have a very efficient team and, with the help of each and every person that is part of the team, we are constantly innovating in ways to better perform our work and render the services the organisation demands’. He is also involved in increasing the business acumen of the team, and its use of technology to enhance its productivity. Barrera is highly competent in his multijurisdictional expertise and strategy with a focus on delivery of the legal policies, decisions and perspective of the whole company, but has identified that his team-building role is one of his most rewarding: ‘Probably one of the most gratifying aspects of the work is to be able to structure highly competent legal teams in the different companies I have worked, always with the aim to adequately address the tasks at hand and provide legal support for the company in order to complement its growth and strategic plans’. During his tenure his team have had some major successes in M&A, transactions, joint ventures and capital investments by strategic and non-strategic shareholders. Barrera has directed these projects and, in some cases, managed them entirely with his in-house team. For example, the acquisition of the Royal Decameron Costa Blanca resort in Panama and the related financing, and the lease or acquisition, construction and operation of the Decameron Hotels in Haiti and Jamaica.