Legal Team size:   about 250 Latin America region lawyers, including 16 lawyers covering the Caribbean & Central America 

During the past year, what are your teams’ proudest accomplishments? 

Last year our Latin America and Caribbean legal teams lived out their leadership principles and executed them with pride throughout the region. We continue to be a significant source of strength and innovation to our clients. I was able to advise on many relevant infrastructure and financial transactions that were executed across multiple jurisdictions. Despite challenges and volatile macroenvironments around the world, our lawyers consistently stepped up and delivered legal wins for the firm with grit, resilience and determination.  The Legal 500 GC Powerlist recognized five of my direct reports as leading lawyers in their respective countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, and the Dominican Republic). 

In Central America and the Caribbean, I was directly involved in leading strategies for digitalisation and innovation.  We continue to develop digital agreements, use of electronic signatures, and instant payment solutions to bring agility, modernisation, and simplification to the markets we cover.  

What strategic priorities are guiding you and your team in 2024? 

It is my team’s priority to stay focused and committed to delivering the best-in-class holistic legal advice in support of Citi’s business objectives. Our lawyers will also focus on simplifying and strengthening Citi to maintain and keep growing its excellence and international pre-eminence. As we will perform a critical role navigating the multiple challenges the region faces in 2024, I will make it a priority to keep developing our team’s talent and reinsuring agility and execution.  Our goal is to continue being instrumental leaders in the management and mitigation of Citi’s legal, regulatory, and reputational risks. 

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I am passionate about the legal teams Citi has in Latin America and my role in their development. We have diverse legal teams with significant expertise in both civil and common law jurisdictions allowing us to effectively manage the complexities of the matters we face in multiple jurisdictions.   

In addition to our role as Citi lawyers, we also work hard in giving back to the communities in which we operate – adding lots of purpose to the legal work we do.  Our team has been very active in the ESG space; by structuring transactions that provide borrowers with an incentive to reduce carbon emissions. The price of the loans are adjusted downwards if the borrowers achieve certain environmentally beneficial milestones. In Guatemala, my team structured a loan to a private microfinance institution that provides financial solutions to promote sustainable growth in underserved communities. 

 I am also passionate about working with my team in pro-bono projects. For years in Central America, we have been part of a project for young entrepreneurs called “Crece tu Empresa” put together by the NGO Technoserve where we create awareness of legal issues that may become critical for the development of their businesses. In short, I feel privileged about leading a team of sophisticated lawyers that are widely recognised as well-rounded leaders in their communities.