Having worked for it since 1994, Katerina Vracha boasts immense experience of working with Dixons South East Europe (known as Kotsovolos), and is able to draw from an intimate and detailed knowledge of the company’s operations in order to deal with any legal challenges which arise. She has successfully practiced in a number of legal areas at Kotsovolos, achieving a high level of capability in all those related to retail operations.

Indeed, as she points out, her success in managing the diverse nature of the company’s legal requirements is highlighted ‘by the fact that it has been the company’s strategy to entrust the handling of the majority of its legal affairs to its in-house department’, rather than using external law firms primarily. She has been highly successful, therefore, in terms of the aligning the collective goals of the legal function with those of the company. In terms of personal highlights, Vracha mentions her support of the company’s expansion into foreign markets as among her most rewarding accomplishments.

‘In this project’, she explains, ‘I provided the Greek law interface of the company’s international transactions, co-ordinated with local law firms handling the non-Greek aspects of the operations and generally supervised all international commercial activities from a legal perspective’. Alongside this, she recalls her work towards the gradual divestiture of the company to its current shareholder – Dixons Carphone – as one that was both extremely rewarding professionally (and which led to a corresponding increase in responsibilities) and particularly important to the company: ‘After the completion of said transaction, the whole profile of the company transformed, because it turned to a member of a multi-national group which had to comply with new standards, which inevitably affected the services of the legal department.

In the new corporate environment I work closely with colleagues from the group, share knowledge with them, and I am part of the risk and compliance committee, reporting to the respective committee of the Dixons Carphone group’.