Speakers
Steering Committee
Dirk Kessler, general counsel global procurement, Nestle
As General Counsel Global Procurement, Dirk Kessler leads the legal strategy and governance for Nestlé’s global procurement company managing more than 60% of Nestlé’s global spend in a wide array of spend categories from raw materials, packaging, equipment, logistics, marketing, IT to corporate services
With extensive experience in corporate and commercial law, Dirk’s remit spans complex international transactions, dispute resolution, compliance, HREDD due diligence and strategic sustainability initiatives.
Passionate about fostering cross- functional collaboration, Dirk partners closely with senior leadership to navigate evolving legal landscapes and ensure operational resilience.
Dirk is part of a leadership team that steers one of Nestlé’s major efficiency initiatives and within Legal & Compliance he has been for years a champions legal innovation and efficiency, leveraging technology and best practices to streamline processes. His team comprises 13 lawyers of 10 nationalities and is considered a talent accelerator for Nestlé’ Legal & Compliance function.
Steering Committee
Ken Ebanks, vice president & deputy general counsel, eBay
Ken Ebanks is Vice President & Deputy General Counsel of US e-commerce giant eBay. In this role, Ken oversees a team of nearly 100 legal professionals around the world from his base in Bern. He also serves on eBay’s Global Markets Leadership team, which is responsible for all business operations of the company. Ken served as Interim General Counsel of eBay in 2024 and is a Board member of multiple eBay entities and the eBay Foundation.
Prior to joining eBay, Ken led the EMEA Legal team for Amazon Video in London and was a corporate partner with Covington LLP in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
Steering Committee
Marc Pfeffer, group general counsel, Kuehne + Nagel International
Dr. Marc Pfeffer has been a member of the management board responsible for legal and governance at Kuehne+Nagel International since January 2023.
Marc joined Kuehne+Nagel as group general counsel in 2014. He restructured the legal department and introduced competence centres and efficient cost structures. Under his leadership, the compliance department was reorganised, and data protection was established in accordance with the relevant regulations.
In 2019, Marc Pfeffer additionally assumed the function of the corporate secretary of the board of directors of Kuehne + Nagel International.
From 2008 to 2019, he was a member of the board of directors of Ruf Holding, Wollerau, Switzerland. In 2019, he joined the board of directors of Kühne Holding and was a member of the audit committee. Marc Pfeffer stepped down from the board of directors of Kühne Holding effective December 31, 2022.
Marc Pfeffer has lived and worked as a lawyer in Switzerland for 16 years. He was head of international legal affairs from the end of 2006 until 2010. Then, until 2012, he was general counsel of the publicly listed OC Oerlikon Corporation, Pfäffikon, Switzerland, a global market leader in PVD coatings, gearboxes and textile machinery.
From 2002 to 2006, he was in the legal department with DB, Berlin, Germany, and was jointly responsible for integrating the logistics subsidiary DB Schenker. As general counsel at DB Netz, Frankfurt am Main,he had global responsibility for legal affairs and corporate governance as part of the management team from 2005. He left the DB Group in 2006 as the German Government called off the planned IPO of DB Netz.
Marc Pfeffer studied law and received his doctorate in law with distinction from Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. In 1998, he worked at the US Federal Trade Commission and lived in Washington, DC, USA. He was a lecturer in the Business Administration Department of the Berlin Business School from 2004 until his move to Frankfurt.
Positions held within the Kuehne+Nagel Group:
2014 – today: Group general counsel of the Kuehne+Nagel Group
2019 – today: Corporate secretary of the board of directors of Kuehne+Nagel
Jan 2023 – today: Chief legal officer, executive vice president legal and governance of the group
Steering Committee
Philippe A. Huber, senior vice president, group general counsel and chief compliance officer, company secretary, SIG Group
Philippe Huber is an accomplished legal, compliance, governance and risk executive with extensive experience and expertise in multi-jurisdictional matters. After spending many years in private practice in Zurich and London, he joined Transocean Ltd to lead its listing on SIX Swiss Exchange. He proved his strategic and crisis management skills when dealing with the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico and leading a proxy fight against a US shareholder activist.
At SIG Group AG, Huber leads a global and multi-cultural team of legal and compliance professionals in a highly dynamic business environment. He recently spearheaded several strategic M&A and capital markets transactions while further strengthening the group’s compliance framework, notably in the area of trade compliance and sanctions. Huber also expanded the remit of the legal and compliance function to include environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. He leverages legal technology and fosters cross-functional collaboration to drive efficiency and value. Huber is particularly appreciated for his solution-oriented approach and ability to think “outside the box”.
Huber believes that in-house lawyers should embrace the challenge of ever faster changing environments and lead their organisations in navigating the resulting complexities.