About

Catalina Robledo Ramirez has been a corporate lawyer for over 15 years, acquiring wide experience as general counsel in board of directors and shareholder meetings and all matters related with corporate governance, as well as the negotiation of domestic and international agreements. She was hired by Distribuidora Nissan (DINISSAN) in 2013 after being recognised for handling matters related with business associations, IP, antitrust, consumer protection, corporate and commercial law as well as for her past experiences as a compliance officer dealing with data protection and antifraud matters. As legal manager – general counsel for DINISSAN, she in charge of all the legal matters, not just for Distribuidora Nissan, but for all the companies which make up its business group. In addition to working on important deals and disputes, a key feature of Robledo’s tenure at DINISSAN includes creating its legal function: ‘When I was hired, the legal department had been created just one year [prior], with a few junior lawyers. Nowadays the legal department has me as the head, in the role of legal manager, and there are four more lawyers, two of them senior the other two intermediate, with excellent academic and professional backgrounds’, she states. The changes Robledo implemented has allowed the function to cover all the legal tasks for the six companies comprising the DINISSAN’s group of companies, ensuring that all the activities and business developed by the companies are in line with the local regulations. However she highlights that ‘[creating] the conscience in the whole company about the significance and advantages of having an in house legal department’, as her biggest challenge and achievement. ‘My biggest accomplishment is that I have succeeded in this task, now the legal department is recognised like a strategic ally for the other departments of the company and certainly also by the general manager, the board of directors and even the shareholders’ meeting’. Some facets of her previous in-house career highlights include implementing corporate governance rules at both family and private companies, acting as compliance officer which allow her to know deeply the regulations in different sectors of the economy and participating in the negotiation of domestic and international agreements which enhanced her negotiation skills especially when faced with different cultures. Prior to DINISSAN, Robledo held senior positions at companies across Colombia including the Association of R&D pharmaceuticals (AFIDRO), Mazda and Colombia’s National Commission of Civil Service.