About

Axel Viaene started his career as an international associate attorney with The Coca-Cola Company at the company’s global headquarters in Atlanta in 1997. He moved to Amsterdam to take up the role of Benelux legal director for Dell Computers in 2000. In 2003, he moved to Starbucks as EMEA legal director based in Amsterdam, eventually joining GrandVision as its first general counsel and company secretary in 2013. Viaene has accumulated substantial experience and career highlights in a number of areas, primarily by working on intellectual property matters at The Coca-Cola Company, where he learnt about the power of the brand and the importance of trademark protection. Amongst his other significant learning curbs, working on M&A matters with Starbucks taught him about the importance of consistent operational execution and working on the IPO of GrandVision in 2015 taught him about successfully handling even the most complicated legal transactions. When reflecting about the changes he’s made to the legal department Viaene says: ‘An empowered way of working, introducing legal technology and establishing global standards of operational legal excellence, creating a framework of sustained profitable growth has been at the forground’.