Career Biography

Rafael Ekres is the Country General Counsel and Data Protection Officer (DPO) for John Deere Financial Brazil, where he leads legal, regulatory, compliance, privacy and governance matters in one of the company’s most complex and strategic markets. With a career spanning both law firm practice and senior in-house leadership, Rafael has built a reputation for combining strong technical judgment with a business-enabler mindset. His work is characterized by pragmatic risk management, clear governance structures and close collaboration with business, technology and global legal teams.

In his current role, Rafael plays a central role in advising John Deere Financial Brazil and Banco John Deere, a regulated joint venture with Bradesco, supporting areas such as financial services, credit products, data governance, regulatory engagement, contracts, litigation strategy and cross-border matters. He has been deeply involved in high-impact strategic initiatives, including the structuring, governance and operationalization of the joint venture, integration and subsequent decoupling of systems and processes between Deere and its partners, and the strengthening of legal and compliance frameworks to support sustainable growth.

As Data Protection Officer, Rafael leads the privacy and data protection agenda in Brazil, ensuring compliance with the LGPD while enabling innovation and digital transformation. He acts as a bridge between global privacy strategy and local regulatory requirements, supporting complex privacy assessments, data sharing models, vendor onboarding, retention frameworks and high-risk use cases such as credit decisioning and data-driven technologies. His approach emphasizes risk-based decision-making, transparency and proportionality, always aligned with business realities.

Rafael is also actively involved in discussions around artificial intelligence governance and emerging technologies. After completing a Generative AI specialization with MIT Professional Education, he has contributed to internal global initiatives focused on AI risk management, ethics and governance, helping shape practical guidelines that balance innovation with responsibility. Throughout his career, Rafael has been recognized for his ability to build trust with stakeholders, translate legal complexity into actionable guidance, and lead teams through transformation in regulated environments. He is frequently called upon to support global projects, provide strategic legal input beyond Brazil, and mentor colleagues across regions.

Beyond his technical expertise, Rafael is known for his collaborative and human-centered leadership style. He believes strongly in the role of in-house counsel as a strategic partner to the business, combining integrity, sound judgment and execution excellence. His work reflects a consistent focus on enabling growth, protecting the organization and fostering a strong ethical and governance culture.

Rafael holds an MBA in Business Administration, with international completion at Harvard, and additional certifications in privacy and data protection. He is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish, and has professional proficiency in French, working closely with global teams across different jurisdictions and cultures.

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the past year, my legal team has been closely involved in a series of complex, enterprise‑level matters that went well beyond traditional legal support and directly shaped business continuity, governance, and regulatory positioning in Brazil. One of the most significant areas of focus has been supporting the post‑joint venture restructuring of financial services operations, including the redesign of governance structures, redefinition of intercompany relationships, and alignment with local regulatory expectations. This involved reviewing and restructuring multiple intercompany agreements, reassessing operational responsibilities, and ensuring consistency with global legal, audit, and compliance frameworks. While some transactional details are confidential, the work required navigating a highly regulated environment while preserving operational efficiency and business momentum. 

In parallel, the legal function played a central role in regulatory and infrastructure decoupling initiatives, helping the business transition from legacy structures to new operating models. This required close coordination with global teams, regulators, and internal stakeholders to manage risk, avoid service disruption, and maintain compliance during periods of structural change. Another major area of engagement has been privacy, data protection and AI governance. We led the refinement of Brazil’s privacy governance model, supported the execution and review of impact assessments, and aligned local practices with global standards under LGPD and emerging AI governance principles. As enforcement expectations increase, these initiatives have been critical to strengthening risk visibility and executive accountability. 

We were also heavily involved in strategic technology and outsourcing matters, including the negotiation and reassessment of complex contracts supporting business‑critical platforms. These discussions focused on scope definition, risk allocation, data and security obligations, and operational alignment—balancing innovation and speed with regulatory and reputational safeguards. 

Finally, the legal team has supported incident and crisis‑response scenarios, working alongside compliance, security, IT and leadership teams to ensure proportionate, transparent and defensible responses. In these situations, Legal’s role has been to orchestrate decision‑making under pressure, ensuring both regulatory adherence and preservation of trust. Across all these matters, Legal has acted not simply as an approver, but as a strategic enabler, helping leadership navigate complexity and make informed decisions in a fast‑moving environment.

What new pressures are you facing from the business as expectations for legal to act as a strategic partner continue to grow?

One of the most visible pressures on legal teams today is the expectation to operate as a real‑time strategic partner, rather than a downstream control function. Business leaders increasingly expect Legal to provide: (i) fast, pragmatic guidance under uncertainty, (ii) clear translations of regulatory risk into business impact, and (iii) solutions that enable growth without compromising governance. This has significantly reshaped how my team operates. Legal is now embedded earlier in decision‑making, particularly in transformation initiatives, technology projects and regulatory structuring. The challenge is no longer purely legal accuracy, but timing, relevance and clarity. 

Another pressure is managing complexity without slowing the business. Regulatory requirements, data protection expectations and technology risks continue to grow, often faster than formal regulation. Legal teams must anticipate these shifts, not react to them. To meet these expectations, we focus on prioritization, simplification and transparency (helping the business understand where risks truly matter, and where they do not). This shift requires strong judgment, commercial literacy and the confidence to move away from purely defensive legal advice. 

Brazil is experiencing rapid evolution in data protection, AI regulation and cybersecurity expectations, both from regulators and the market. Our response has been to integrate these topics into core business processes rather than treat them as standalone compliance exercises. From a data‑protection perspective, we have strengthened governance and accountability structures, improved assessment quality, and increased executive visibility over privacy risks. LGPD compliance is treated as an operational discipline, not a one‑time legal effort. 

AI governance is an emerging focus. As the use of AI expands, Legal plays a key role in defining guardrails around transparency, human oversight, risk classification and accountability. We work closely with global teams to ensure innovation moves forward responsibly, with governance frameworks that are flexible but robust. Cybersecurity is addressed as a shared enterprise risk, with Legal contributing through incident preparedness, third‑party risk management, contractual controls and regulatory interface. This integrated approach helps the organization remain resilient while continuing to innovate.