About

MediaMarkt is a leading company in Europe in the distribution of consumer electronics. It was founded in Germany in 1979 and opened its first store in Spain 20 years ago. MediaMarkt Iberia is present in both Spain and Portugal, with a team of 6,875 people and almost 90 physical stores in Spain, and more than 560 collaborators and 10 physical stores in Portugal. Highlighting MediaMarkt Iberia legal team’s analytical capability and cross-border expertise, one nominator states: ‘The legal department has an impressive track record with complex operations in these two markets. It is a clear example of teamwork and coordination. It’s also a dynamic team where each member adds value not only to the legal department but to the company’. The team is led by Xavier Mas Viñallonga as head of legal, compliance officer, and secretary of the board of directors. There are three lawyers and one trainee within the team and the department is structured into four main areas: Corporate affairs, legal affairs, data privacy and compliance. Corporate affairs is led by Viñallonga and supported by Georgina Briñol, with a goal of creation and maintenance of good corporate governance for the company. Legal affairs is managed by Pau Cruz and is supported by other team members depending on the specific legal issues involved; which include contract law (including real estate), legal proceedings, antitrust law and digital transformation. Data privacy is led by Briñol as the company’s data protection officer, focusing on EU regulations (GDPR, e-privacy) as well as local regulations via contact with authorities. Compliance is headed by Viñallonga as compliance officer and supported by Briñol as deputy compliance officer, dealing with regulation, creation and maintenance of the compliance system in the organisation. In the last two years, digitalisation has been one of the milestones for the legal department of MediaMarkt Iberia, in line with the digitalisation process of the whole organisation. ‘Our legal department is a business department and a key KPI for the success of the company in the market’, says Viñallonga. ‘We as a legal team are fully committed to the business and we are totally convinced of our positive impact on the business, since ethics and compliance, together with a good corporate governance, are key factors to keep a company sustainable and long-lasting in the market’, he adds.