About

Jennifer Martinez worked for external legal providers including serving as manager of Deloitte’s legal corporate practice for five years, before joining Delphi, a global supplier of technology for automobiles with over $17bn in sales. In addition to her role as Mexico managing regional counsel, Martinez is leader of the compliance board and of planning, training and risk assessment as well as being Delphi’s Mexico and Honduras director since April 2013. Controlling all legal and regulatory affairs, she is known for her wide range of knowledge, combining corporate law, labour, finance and banking, tax, M&A, foreign trade, real estate and foreign investment, with a developed business orientation and deep understanding of Mexican laws and Latin American legislation. With a small team that cover Mexico’s 46 plants and over 56,000 employees, it is evident that Martinez runs a highly efficient legal function. She adds ‘we completely changed dynamics, work ethics, efficiency, cost control and relationship with our customers. Now the area is not only working under lean and efficient principles, but has become a close ally of all senior management on decision making and risk assessment. We have also revamped and boosted the compliance efforts in the region and are tackling certain critical issues with a 100% success rate’. Regulatory and legislative change has been an important part of Martinez’s agenda, as she was part of the lobbying team that discussed the Mexican tax reforms with the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2014, which was critical to Delphi’s maquiladora industry. She says ‘we were able to, directly and through our participation in industry associations, have some of our suggested changes passed and minimise the negative impact of the reform’.