Formerly an in-house lawyer at large companies in Spain such as Seat and Sara Lee, Cristina Crespo now serves as the head of legal for Europe of Jacobs Douwe Egberts, the world’s leading pure-play coffee company. Based in the Netherlands and created by the integration of Mondelēz International and D.E Master Blenders, JDE owns some of the world’s leading coffee brands, such as Jacobs, Tassimo, Moccona, Senseo, L’OR, Douwe Egberts, Kenco, Pilão and Gevalia.

Working out of JDE’s Barcelona offices, Crespo oversees a team of lawyers scattered across a number of European companies. Crespo has received extensive praise from nominators in this year’s research, particularly for handling M&A transactions concerning the structure and ownership of JDE. ‘She adapted, moved her mind, and lead a group of lawyers in the whole Europe, always bearing in mind a real business approach, constant changes and efficiency of costs and resources’, a source says.

Besides her in-house role, Crespo currently serves as the president of the in-house lawyers’ commission of the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB), a role which allows her to be in permanent contact with a large community of in-house lawyers in Barcelona. ‘She is also doing a very good job promoting this Commission across the Catalan legal community’, the source adds.