Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | InspereX
Formerly Ethics and compliance executive and in-house advisor- Latin America and Global Marketing | Rockwell Automation
Executive vice president, deputy general counsel, Head of Global Content and Intellectual Property, Mexico Litigation and Regulatory, and International Distribution | TelevisaUnivision
Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel | Ingram Micro Holding
Augusto Aragone serves as executive vice president, secretary and general counsel for Ingram Micro, a leader in delivering the full spectrum of global technology and supply-chain solutions to businesses around...
Vice President and Regional General Counsel - Latin America and Caribbean | SAP
General Counsel | Universal Alloys
Daniela Rost is an accomplished attorney with over a decade of experience as in-house counsel for companies within the same corporate group, including Universal Alloys, Georgian American Alloys, Felman Production,...
Vice president & associate counsel - compliance and ethics | Southern Glazer's Wines and Spirits
Delia C. Reyes is currently the Vice President-Associate Counsel, Compliance & Ethics at Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits (SGWS )– Central Region. Delia joined SGWS in March 2020 holding Legal...
Senior Associate General counsel | Visa
Diana M. Becerra is an international lawyer with over 15 years of experience in-house legal experience in start-ups, private high growth, and public companies. Her extensive expertise spans across various...
Formerly Director legal, senior counsel | Daikin Applied Americas
Vice President - Legal Affairs, Export Compliance Officer and Empowered Official | Barfield
Executive Vice President and General Counsel | Cisneros Group of Companies
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Fresh Del Monte Produce
Effie D. Silva has served as the senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary since 2022. In this role, Effie leads the company’s legal, risk management, food safety, government affairs,...
Central America and Caribbean Sub-Cluster Legal Head and Senior Counsel for Banking & International Legal | Citibank
General Counsel, Legal & Compliance, Latin America & Canada | Boston Scientific
Managing General Counsel for the Americas | ACS Infrastructure
General Counsel, North America, Caribbean & Asia | LATAM Airlines Group
Senior Vice President and chief legal officer | GSI Management
SVP, Chief counsel, North America | Mondelēz International
Legal director, payments and risks (Americas) | Uber Technologies
Jessica has over 25 years of legal experience. She is currently Uber’s Director of Payments Legal, covering payments-related matters for the Americas. Jessica began her legal career as a corporate...
General Counsel Latin America & Caribbean | Marsh Mclennan
Jorge serves as the General Counsel for Marsh McLennan in the Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) region. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory...
VP, General Counsel Corporate & Global Chief Privacy Officer | Millicom International
Vice President, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer | Laureate Education
Laura Paredes is an internationally educated lawyer, licensed in Colombia in 2003 and also in the State of Missouri, USA in 2020. Additionally, she is a registered and authorized in-house...
Vice President & Associate General Counsel (Regional General Counsel, Americas) | Japan Tobacco International
Senior vice president, senior counsel - corporate, m&a, public company | New Fortress Energy
Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel | Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium
Marc Weinroth is Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel for the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, where he is responsible for all legal matters, risk management, and government affairs. Marc...
Vice president, customs & regulatory affairs, DHL Express Americas | DHL Express
VP & Senior Counsel, Latin America and Caribbean | Marriott International
Marisol Mateos is an international bilingual attorney who has worked in the hospitality industry since 1992, having worked in Europe and Latin America. She has experience in hotel development agreements,...
Vice president, Issues, Events & Remediation, Control Management (Operational Risk) | American Express
The work I am currently supporting is heavily impacted by regulatory scrutiny of the operational risk and related control environment at American Express as the company grows to become...
Senior Vice President, general counsel | Miami Dolphins, Hard Rock Stadium, F1 Miami Grand Prix
Head of Legal, Wealth Americas Banking & Lending; Director, Associate General Counsel | Citigroup
Nilo Barredo is the Head of Legal for Citi Wealth’s Banking and Lending businesses in the Americas. In this role, Nilo supports Wealth’s diverse banking and lending products in North...
SVP, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary | Royal Caribbean Group
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Board Secretary | Ryder System
Director, legal (North America) | Verifone
Robert serves as Director for North America Legal at VeriFone, Inc, where he structures complex commercial partnerships and enterprise merchant agreements with major global payments partners. His strategic deal-making has...
Chief Legal and Compliance Officer | Millicom International
Executive vice president and general counsel | Cirion Technologies Solutions
Ms Plastino has 25+ years of experience in the technology and telecom industries, as well as in multinational investments in Latin America. She is currently based in Miami, FL and...
Associate general counsel - Product SSA Latam | Airbnb
Victoria´s background includes operating in fast-paced legal departments supporting the business and managing efficiency and simplification of in-house legal departments for over 20 years. Victoria is experienced in multi-country environments with varied...
Chief Legal Officer | Caban Energy
Violeta Longino, an internationally recognised executive leader, is the chief legal officer for Caban Energy, an energy infrastructure provider, offering end-to-end solutions for the largest telecom companies in the world....
Vice president & Associate general counsel, global M&A, Americas | Diageo
Legal 500 is thrilled to announce the third edition of the GC Powerlist Miami 2025, recognizing the outstanding senior in-house counsel who continue to lead the way in the legal profession. Each year, we have the privilege of celebrating the impressive achievements of individuals who are driving legal excellence, and this year, as we gather in Miami, we’re reminded of the city’s dynamic role as a global business hub where innovation and opportunity intersect.
As we enter 2025, the strategic priorities guiding in-house teams reflect both evolving challenges and transformative opportunities. As one general counsel shared, “Heading into 2025, our legal team’s priorities are grounded in technology and digital transformation, compliance, business integration, risk mitigation, and talent development. Legal technologies streamline workflows, improve contract management, and enhance data analysis.” Another noted the growing role of AI, stating, “Internally, we will continue to test and adopt the AI tools that empower our legal team to work more effectively and responsibly, as well as enhance our due diligence framework and body of precedents to reflect the evolving implications AI adoption, both by the fund and by our portfolio companies.” Sustainability also continues to shape legal strategies, with many prioritising ESG initiatives, “sustainability and ESG initiatives continue to shape our legal strategy, ensuring that environmental, social, and governance considerations are embedded in business operations.”
Legal 500 is incredibly grateful for the engagement of the in-house community, whose leadership continues to set the bar for excellence in the legal profession. We are honored to showcase these exceptional individuals and their teams, whose work drives lasting impact.
We would also like to extend our deepest gratitude to Winston & Strawn for their continued partnership and support, making this celebration possible. We look forward to recognizing the remarkable contributions of Miami’s top in-house counsel and the exciting developments shaping the legal landscape in the city.
Legal 500 was proud to host the launch of our second GC Powerlist: South Africa, an event that brought together approximately 100 of the country’s most distinguished in-house lawyers at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s (CDH) stunning Sandton, Johannesburg office.
Updating this year’s Powerlist was no small feat—our research team faced the challenge of reflecting market shifts while ensuring the continued recognition of the most outstanding general counsel from the previous edition. The result is a carefully curated list that celebrates the evolving leadership and expertise within South Africa’s in-house legal community.
The evening commenced with a welcome address from Phetheni Nkuna, Director: Executive Management at CDH, who reaffirmed the firm’s unwavering commitment to supporting corporate counsel as they navigate the challenges of their profession. She also highlighted the importance of recognizing the exceptional work of in-house lawyers, who often receive less public acknowledgment than their law firm counterparts.
The event’s first GC keynote speaker, Velile Mamela of Sanlam, took the stage to congratulate the honorees and share pivotal moments that shaped his journey as a corporate counsel. Following him, Zanoodene Kassim of Uber delivered a highly engaging and well-received speech, which is reproduced below with his permission:
“Good evening, everyone. First, let me just say—what a relief it is to be in a room full of lawyers where no one is billing by the hour. We should do this more often! I would like to take a moment to thank our hosts, Legal 500 and Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyer, for organising this amazing event. Also, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate each and every one of the honourees for the recognition you are receiving this evening – it is truly a great accomplishment. It’s an honour to be here as we celebrate the unsung heroes of the corporate world: in-house lawyers. General counsel may not have the fancy courtroom gowns of our law firm counterparts, but we do have something even more impressive—the ability to translate “legalese” into business speak. And, on occasion, the ability to be true thought-leaders and collaborators – not only explaining to the business why their latest “great idea” may not be, technically, legal but also working on finding solutions to such trivial technicalities.
A big part of our job is knowing the law of course—but an even bigger part is knowing the business. We don’t just interpret contracts; we interpret intent. We don’t just mitigate risk; we anticipate it. During my time in practice, the late Sternford Moyo, former president of the International Bar Association, used to say that in order to be a good attorney (other than knowing the law or at least knowing where to look) – a good attorney had to have the three “A”s. They needed to be: Affable; Available; and Affordable. Apart from the last one, I think that having these qualities makes for a good in-house lawyer as well. In my career, I have always found that when we are most appreciated as in-house lawyers by our business counterparts, is when we are true thought-partners. Knowing their business as well as you know the law is probably the skill most valued by the business.
I think that the late Mr Moyo’s three “A”s (now to be read as Dene’s two “A”s) give us good insight into what being a great in-house lawyer means. It isn’t just about reading the fine print—it’s about understanding how that fine print fits into the bigger picture of what the company is trying to do. Our role is unique because we are both protectors and enablers. We keep our companies out of trouble, but we also help them grow. We find solutions that allow innovation to move forward responsibly. And, occasionally, we act as therapists when a stressed-out executive realizes they’ve just promised something that isn’t, strictly speaking, you know – legal. So tonight, I’d like for us to take a moment to appreciate what it is we actually do – us the wordsmiths, the therapists, the sense-checkers, the protectors, the enablers.
We may not always be the most visible (and we may be called nasty things like “cost centres”), but we are the ones who make innovation possible, who keep our companies ethical, and who—despite our best efforts—are still the first ones people call when they “just have a quick legal question.” Congratulations to all of tonight’s honorees. You’ve earned this moment. And now, let’s enjoy the rest of the evening—before someone pulls us aside to review something.”
As the legal landscape in South Africa continues to evolve, we eagerly anticipate witnessing the impact of the talented legal professionals shaping the industry. We look forward to celebrating the next cohort of top in-house lawyers in the GC Powerlist South Africa 2025 edition next year.
