About

Ian Kayanakis’ legal career began as a Paris Bar attorney and at Lazareff & Associés, one of the most reputable names in international arbitration. Given this foundation, Kayanakis was well suited for his participation in the creation of aerospace giant EADS (now Airbus Group), joining them as the international legal counsel in 2001, only a year after the creation of the company. He assisted on the to-be-built Defence Division, after which Kayanakis became senior legal counsel of the branch. Kayanakis then joined CAC 40 energy company Technip in 2008 where, in addition to managing the group’s litigation, he served as secretary of the M&A committee having led the company’s largest acquisition plan since 2000. Working with internal strategists and financial analysts, Kayanakis was responsible for presenting files to the committee for “go” and “no-go” decisions. Career highlights include the acquisition of Global Inc, Stone & Webster and Cybernetix. Having left Technip in January 2014 he founded the Lexalis Council, an independent financial and legal advice company supporting companies and investors. He joined ATOS a year later, managing a “Legal Region” which covers major events such as the Olympics and the jurisdictions of France, Iberia, India, Middle East and Africa. His legal region comprises circa 30,000 employees and over €2bn in revenue, which he is able to support with a legal team of 26. Kayanakis states: ‘I took over my current position with a clear goal: creating a legal region based on nation-centric legal teams’. Successful in his goal he now has a fully integrated team organised in accordance with jurisdictions where the revenue targets of the group are realised. As a member of the Global Business Units committee, Kayanakis is a respected business partner navigating the company through complex topics vital to the health of the entire Atos Group. Obtaining a finance background through an executive education at the INSEAD Business School has better aligned his commercial credibility: ‘I truly think that the more a general counsel follows the same business education, the more likely it is that they will be recognised in terms of executive business positions’.