About

BRF is a large Brazilian food company that has been in business for over 82 years, creating products under several brand names including Sadia, Perdigão and Qualy. Sadia was recently been named Brazil’s most valuable food brand and is worth $2bn across its multiple segments, including ham, pizza and frozen meals. José Roberto Pernomian Rodrigues is BRF’s current vice president for legal and corporate affairs, which encompasses legal and corporate oversight for a company with approximately 105,000 employees, 35 industrial units, 13 international plants and 40 distribution centres. BRF currently exports its products to over 120 countries and posted a net revenue figure of R$8.1bn in the first quarter of 2016. Despite market-related challenges, the first quarter of 2016 saw important advances in BRF’s international expansion process, as the company concluded the acquisitions of Golden Foods Siamin Thailand, Universal Meats in the United Kingdom and Qatar National Import and Export Co. It also was able to gain access to new markets in Asia and Latin America, namely Malaysia and Mexico, requiring broad and extensive legal support. Rodrigues has a wealth of experience from which to provide such counsel, with extensive experience in the field of business law; before joining BRF he was a professor of general theory of law, financial law and tax law at various educational institutions. For a period of time he acted as a Judge at Court of Taxes and Duties of the Secretary of the São Paulo State Finance. Rodrigues is an active member of industry bodies that promote the development of the legal industry in São Paulo and Brazil as a whole: he is part of both the AASP (Associação dos Advogados de São Paulo) and IASP (Instituto dos Advogados de São Paulo).