About

With a total of 14 years’ experience, split across private practice and in-house roles, Dorys Mejia’s knowledge allows her to overcome many of the challenges typically faced by corporate counsel. As legal and compliance manager for IKEA Santo Domingo, IKEA’s business in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, Mejia was able to overcome the biggest challenge of her professional career to date, overseeing IKEA’s 2012 expansion into Puerto Rico. During the multinational furniture retailer’s expansion, Mejia established a compliance department that was able to comply with the country’s immigration procedures, participate in health inspections and implement a solid code of ethics. Subsequently, Mejia has transformed her legal and compliance department into an invaluable tool for the company, which has even generated revenue in the past. According to Mejia, ‘the department changes as needs arise’. To Mejia’s displeasure, external challenges have played a greater role in effecting her legal service delivery than she would have liked. In her experience, her work in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico has routinely highlighted the issue of excessive bureaucracy, business-limiting compliance requirements and frequent regulatory changes. However, she does not regret the high amount of energy she expends mitigating these challenges because in her words, ‘I love the brand and the company because it allows me to get involved with many people in many areas. In addition to working with a team of external lawyers in both markets that make the experience different and challenging every day’.