Have there been any political, economic or regulatory changes that impacted you or your team?

I have been with Siemens since 2009 and have been general counsel and member of the board of directors since 2013. I support all Siemens companies, even those out of the scope of digital industries and smart infrastructure, based on the relevant service agreement. Together with the compliance team, we help all Siemens companies across different sectors. Apart from my position as general counsel, I am motion manager of a team with support legacy project in Greece, concerning projects which have remained with Siemens and from businesses which Siemens has already divested. The past few years have been quite challenging, and the biggest challenge was the pandemic. As a team manager, it was crucial to watch how the pandemic evolved to see how best to support my team, and as a member of the board of a company I needed to ensure that resources for the business to proceed were available. I do think that as a company, we have managed to overcome this obstacle to the extent possible, first, by implementing a remote working scheme for all employees. Regarding our business, we also managed to manage project delays and have a good financial result based on our volume, against the backdrop of the pandemic.

In what ways, do you see the in-house legal role evolving in Greece over the next few years?

The role of legal counsel has gradually moved from being confined to sole service providing to becoming part of the business, in the sense of a true business partner. A lot of new challenges are also anticipated to come into play, with the introduction of disruptive technology which will need to be regulated and adopted in business. I expect a type of standardisation in everyone’s job in the future, especially with the introduction of artificial intelligence which will save time and resources for what is important. Of course, this is only if people are equipped and smart enough to use these tools. I think to a certain extent, there will be less personal communication and interaction over the years too.

How has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability has that affected your team and its priorities?

Siemens has recently adopted an overall framework, which we call the DEGREE framework. It’s an acronym for decarbonisation, ethics, governance, resource efficiency, equity and employability. All these are factors which are very integral to our business, and we try to act on them. For example, concerning decarbonisation, as a legal team we cannot effect change all by ourselves apart from being cautious with what we use among other things. But for example, Siemens is a company which has a global target with regards to Co2 emissions, so we try to minimize our footprint, for instance by changing the company car fleet. So, this is just an example of how we are oriented towards doing something in the global business and market sense.