About

With more than 20 years of experience, and a well-rounded vision, Phyllis Gleiser leads the legal team at Nestlé in Colombia. She has had legal roles within different perspectives at law firms, in the government and in-house at a multilateral organisation. Additionally, she was professor of Roman law during several periods at Universidad de los Andes. In the last 15 years, she has been working for multinational companies, and since 2004 in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. She joined Nestlé Colombia in 2010 and says that her ‘career has moulded her to believe that in order for an in-house legal department to be effective and valued by its clients, it is fundamental to be very close to the business and sit at the table where the strategic decisions are made. As in-house lawyers we need insight and good judgement’. Her role, as well as the scope of the legal department, has changed a lot during her time in the role. She was the only in-house lawyer in the legal department when she started, and now there are four in-house lawyers, and each business and functional unit has their own legal business partner. Nestlé Colombia has the following business units: infant nutrition, dairy products, culinary, products for professional use, coffee, confectionary and pet food; each one has a lawyer assigned to look over all of their needs. Additionally, each lawyer has additional areas of expertise such as: antitrust, consumer law, data protection, intellectual property, environmental law, and planning law. The legal expert on the specific area co-leads matters related with the area of her expertise. Gleiser has implemented this new way of working and it has allowed the team to be closer to the business, providing the necessary legal support at all times. The strategy is proactive taking the group from only providing legal support when our internal clients request it to having processes in place that insert legal review within the operations of the company. Additionally, Gleiser has initiated the legal team’s expansion into advocacy matters such as advocating for the shaping of regulation, within the industry associations. This role has significant relevance to the strategy of the company and has allowed the legal department to participate in what determines the future of the business, and is all part of GleIser’s impactful leadership.