Colombia Teams 2019
| Bayer
Bayer
The Bayer legal team in Colombia is led by Hector A. Garcia Corredor, the head of legal, compliance, data privacy and insurance for the multinational healthcare company’s Andean country group. The structure is further separated in two main branches; legal and compliance. The legal branch is composed by three lawyers who serve as business partners for two different business units each: crop science and animal health, pharma and radiology and consumer health and support areas. On the other hand, the compliance branch has three people including one dedicated attorney. Furthermore, the business partners serve as support for compliance matters. As part of the internal Bayer communities, two lawyers are part of the “digital and innovation community”, one lawyer serves as the leader for the “millennial’s community” and the head of the department is the sponsor for the marketing community. The communities within Bayer were created in 2018 to gather employees from different backgrounds and areas of expertise to connect ideas, resulting in innovative projects with internal and external positive impact. Garcia highlights that, ‘it is a great achievement for some of our lawyers to be part of such communities with an active role’. The local legal and compliance team has become a quintessential part of each business unit. Thanks to the business-partnering scheme, each lawyer has become not only a legal advisor but also a comprehensive business counsel who is involved in commercial and strategic planning. Furthermore, the legal and compliance team has developed an innovative approach to compliance matters, making compliance part of Bayer’s DNA. Over the last couple of years, the team has been involved in Monsanto’s acquisition by Bayer in order to ensure its success from a legal point of view, this being a major acquisition. Additionally, as an essential part of the business unit, the legal and compliance team has actively participated in several projects, which have had a deep impact inside and outside of Bayer. Through the counsel of the team, Bayer was able to co-lead the modification of the codes of ethics for the pharmaceutical and medical devices sectors in Colombia. The Presidential Transparency Secretariat recognised Bayer as an active anticorruption company in 2018 and Bayer was one of the first companies to be certified as an “authorised economic operator” by the Colombian Tax Authority. Furthermore, the Authority trusted in Bayer to be one of the pilot companies to implement electronic invoicing. The team has been key for the launch of new products for innovative therapies in areas such as oncology, ophthalmology, haematology, cardiology and women’s health. In addition, the legal and compliance function has supported the different projects, which saw Bayer recognised as one of the most innovative companies in the pharmaceutical sector during 2018. Garcia highlights that the team ‘understands that we must facilitate the business whilst protecting the integrity of the company and our employees. As such, the legal and compliance team sets itself to work together with the business units, creating synergies and best practices in order to meet business objectives ensuring high ethical standards. The legal and compliance team has developed innovative compliance projects in the Andean region, which have become global best practices in Bayer’.
