Team size: 200+ 

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

The Baker Hughes legal and compliance strategy is aligned directly with our business strategy. We manage periods of instability and crisis by maintaining focus on our purpose and by being clear about our non-negotiables: compliance, health, safety, environment, and quality. The legal and compliance department is embedded within the business and participates in all key staff teams, thereby advising on strategic direction at the outset, allowing us to prepare for risks in advance and respond to crises without delay. My responsibilities include managing enterprise risk management for the entire organisation. 

As the department leader, I encourage my team to be not only lawyers, but also long-term strategic partners. Because of the volatility and complexity all global companies face today, I also encourage my team to focus on the elements we can control and use those elements to enable the company’s growth and success, while protecting the organisation from risk. Furthermore, I work to ensure we use crises as learning opportunities to prepare us for the future. Every crisis, issue, setback teaches us something powerful.   

What are the main cases or transactions that you have been involved in recently?  

Globally, the number of ESG legal requirements continues to grow, including the very complex EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Unfortunately, these requirements will diverge before they converge. As part of my role, I work with the sustainability team to understand these regulations and create a compliance framework that is accurate, repeatable (automated) and auditable. 

Similarly, every company faces an increasingly complex list of risks, including for example, geopolitical instability. In my role of leader for the enterprise risk management function, I partner with the various parts of the organisation and with our board of directors to map, monitor and manage all key risks, through an objective and measurable framework. 

How do you measure the impact of ESG initiatives on the company’s overall performance and reputation?  

At Baker Hughes, sustainability is fundamental to our company’s purpose – ‘We take energy forward – making it safer, cleaner, and more efficient for people and the planet.’ It is a key element of our long-term strategy. We operate responsibly to minimise environmental impact and maximise social benefits by pioneering ground-breaking technology to enable affordable, sustainable, and secure energy production for people and the planet. Our vision is to be a sustainable pioneer within the energy and industrial sectors, thus positioning Baker Hughes as the energy technology company of choice. We measure our impact annually through our corporate responsibility report which tracks the ways we are embedding sustainability across our business for a lower-carbon, sustainable future. Our goals are delivered through objectives linked to the most important issues and we measure success through tracked strategic outcomes. The legal and compliance team includes a team of legal sustainability experts who support the company’s efforts in this highly important area. 

How have you integrated technology into your legal processes, and what impact has this had on efficiency and compliance?  

We are continually working to enhance our technology integration to improve efficiency within our department and compliance within our company. By automating high-volume, low complexity tasks, we can empower attorneys and compliance professionals to focus on high-complexity, high-risk and high-impact matters. We believe that AI will not replace lawyers, but rather support lawyers in maximising their impact. Therefore, we are investing in AI technology and have created a company-wide framework to continue to deploy technology such as Generative AI in an ethical and compliant way. 

What role does the legal department play in promoting and ensuring corporate social responsibility in your organisation?  

At Baker Hughes, our comprehensive corporate social responsibility strategy serves as our roadmap to embed people, planet and principles into the fabric of how we do business. The legal and compliance department is responsible for the principles element of that strategy. Overseeing corporate governance, anti-corruption, integrity, compliance, legal sustainability and human rights, the legal department plays a critical role in ensuring Baker Hughes is operating ethically and sustainably to instill trust in our employees, customers, shareholders, and local communities. At Baker Hughes, doing the right thing comes first. We believe that this commitment to integrity is fundamental to running a sound, successful and sustainable business. Our strong corporate governance starts at the top with our board of directors and cascades down throughout our business to all levels. One of our standards includes the annual training and acknowledgement of our code of conduct, by all employees across the globe. 

What do you see as the major legal challenges for businesses in Italy over the next five years, and how are you preparing to address them? 

Solving the energy trilemma of energy security, affordability and sustainability will continue to be a key priority for Italy as well as other countries globally. As lawyers, we play a key role in addressing this complex trilemma, especially through our role of enabling the creation of new technologies while ensuring adherence to an ever-growing list of global sustainability legal requirements.