German multinational conglomerate Siemens has been active in Greece for nearly 120 years and today continues to offer products, solutions and services that reflect the organisation’s engineering excellence, innovation and quality. After joining the Greek operations of Siemens in November 2009 as senior legal counsel, Maria Stamatopoulou demonstrated strong skills as a business-enabler with enhanced interpersonal skills which led to her appointment in March 2013 as general counsel and member of the board of directors.

Describing her role, she says, ‘I manage the legal team and I am also the “in-country manager” of the compliance team. In parallel I am heading the legacy team, a team of non-legal employees supporting projects stemming out of businesses which Siemens has globally discontinued but still have pending activities in our region’. Under her guidance, the legal team has implemented a number of positive changes including standardising and simplifying contract templates, creating an electronic database for important documents accessible to the company’s divisions and functions, the central organisation and monitoring of credit collection as well as the organisation of seminars for the company’s divisions and functions on new legal developments and other topics with legal aspects. She had the following to say of her team: ‘Our legal team supports not only the regional company Siemens (regional responsibility for Greece and Cyprus) but also other Siemens affiliates and branches, have a very close cooperation with our lead country Siemens Italy and also support Siemens (Germany) as regards its operations in our region’.

Prior to Siemens, she was senior associate in the energy and infrastructures practice group of top tier Greek law firm, KG Law Firm, for over five years. Before that she served in the legal team of Shell Oil and Chemicals Company from 1999 until the end of 2003. Stamatopoulou obtained her LLM in international and European studies and LLB from the University of Athens in 1999 and 1997 respectively. Constantly adding to her capabilities, Stamatopoulou says the following: ‘During my professional life I always try to improve not only my legal knowledge but also my managerial and soft skills by participating in various conferences and seminars amongst which Temple University School of Law courses in international business transactions and alternative dispute resolution. She acquires more knowledge through PWC Academy “long term tax seminar for lawyers”, the Siemens Learning Campus “people and business management course”, and “advanced management course” and recently a Siemens-customised Mini MBA held by ALBA Graduate Business School’.