About

Andrés Morales is a tenacious leader and trusted advisor, with a track record of obtaining corporate goals and developing and managing legal teams in multinational companies and top law firms. A strategic lawyer with an impressive track record in handling diverse areas of law and compliance in Latin America and the Caribbean, Morales currently serves as the legal counsel for National Instruments, a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. The company operates in markets such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. Morales is also responsible for the shared service centre based in Costa Rica with over 350 employees providing services to the Americas and global regions. He has had a large focus on people development during his time as an in-house lawyer: ‘I have seen the lawyers working directly with me developing their skills as professionals and human beings, plus achieving academic and personal goals. Mentoring people is a definitely a highlight in my career’, says Morales. He is accountable for the legal department budget, and has had to develop his business acumen, making him a well-rounded corporate lawyer with a 360-degree view of the corporate world, ‘As an in-house attorney you get the opportunity of working with many professionals outside of the legal profession. Every day at the office is a “mini- MBA” for me; you get to know about sales strategies, marketing plans, financial planning, product development, and people management among many other topics’, he says. As the leading lawyer for Latin America in a high-tech company, he transformed the legal department to become a trusted advisor, providing legal risk analysis to stakeholders, and allowing the legal department to be a key member in the strategic decision making of the company. Most importantly he has been creating a high trust environment as leader of the Latin America legal practice, providing advice in key legal matters and adding business value. ‘The creation of this environment of trust place the legal department in an environment of credibility, constancy and connection with all areas of the company. The legal department know the objectives of the stakeholders and pay attention to their priorities’, says Morales. National Instruments has had significant impact in Latin America, investing in most of the engineering schools of the region by providing trainings and laboratories to students. It is also a founder of the program “Women in Robotics” which is an initiative aimed at engaging young women with robotics and engineering from an early age. Moreover, National Instruments’ products are being used by the main industries in Central America such as energy, aerospace, manufacturing and academia, providing top technologies advantages to students, engineers and scientists to improve the quality of life of people in the region. Prior to this role, Morales served as legal manager for Grupo Roble from March 2011 to
May 2014.