Team size: seven  

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?   

Bupa has a number of global business objectives in terms of growth, transformation, sustainability and others. As legal director, I have to ensure that my team objectives are aligned with such global objectives and establish outcomes that will contribute to the global objectives and therefore add value to the organisation.  This alignment is very useful in times of crises since it constantly reminds the team that there is a bigger picture we cannot lose sight of, that the storm will pass, and we need to make sure we stay on track.  This is also a useful tool to enhance company resilience.   

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

A very relevant milestone for our company took place recently when we obtained our ISES license from the insurance regulator. This license will allow Bupa to transform into an insurance company specialised in health, taking further steps towards its integrated business model, where Bupa is not only a payer of insurance claims or a provider of health services but a “payvider”. This will also allow us to diversify our portfolio product with new preventative products such as dental insurance which will allow us to take better care of our customers health.   Also, we continue to proactively search for acquisition opportunities in the hospital industry in Mexico in order to expand our provision offering in the country.   

How do you manage and motivate your legal team to ensure high performance and professional growth?  

I hold weekly 1 on 1 meetings with each member of my team. These meetings are not simply about work ToDo’s, but about the person in front of me. I always start these meeting by asking “how are you doing?”, “what are your main challenges?” and “what can I do to help you overcome these challenges?”.  Building trust and open communication is key to having a high-performance team, because you are able to anticipate crises and manage it properly.  Also, establishing ambitious yet achievable targets for each individual and making sure each team member participates in the definition of such target is key to keep the team motivated and engaged.  Finally, I strongly believe that continuous training in legal trends is key to boost professional growth and contributes to motivation. Recently, for example, the team completed a 10-week training in legal design which will allow us to transform the way in which we draft legal documents for our customers. This training also provides the team with new tools that are useful in their day-to-day jobs, therefore, making each one of them, better professionals.