What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Recently, my team has played a central role in supporting Sherwin-Williams’ accelerated growth across EMEAI through a series of strategic acquisitions and integrations. Much of our work focusses on aligning newly acquired businesses with our operating model, governance and global compliance expectations, while ensuring continuity in day-to-day commercial activity.

For several acquired entities, this is their first experience of in-house legal support. In those cases we have introduced foundational legal structures, including contract templates and reviews, due diligence and regulatory compliance, and governance frameworks including board alignment and delegations of authority. Helping these organisations navigate our highly matrixed global structure requires sensitivity, cultural awareness, and commercial pragmatism.

We have also significantly advanced our global sanctions compliance programme. With the geopolitical landscape shifting rapidly, our team has led the design and deployment of enhanced diligence, export controls, and ongoing monitoring to ensure the business meets evolving multijurisdictional obligations.

What do you see as an opportunity or risk over the next six months?

The major risk in this period is the combination of global economic uncertainty, soft market conditions, and a sharp increase in regulatory complexity affecting the coatings industry. We have invested time and resource to supporting innovation, operational execution, and a strong compliance culture, so we are well positioned to succeed and grow responsibly.

General counsel often speak of the need to be strategic to reach the pinnacle of the profession. What does being strategic mean to you?

To me, strategic leadership begins with thinking like a businessperson first and a lawyer second. A GC must understand not only the legal landscape but the commercial drivers, operational realities, and culture of the business. That understanding enables tailored, proactive legal advice and risk management.

GCs must earn their seat at the table by becoming trusted advisers, bringing clarity, sound judgment, and solution-focused thinking. In a region made up of multiple acquired businesses, this requires sensitivity to different cultures and operating styles whilst helping to shape a common corporate identity. Ultimately, GCs must try to anticipate issues before they arise and ensure their advice supports sustainable, well-thought-out decision making.

We are currently living through a time of geopolitical change, and the world order that we have come to take for granted for many years is being rewritten. Does this affect your company’s risk profile and, if so, what are you doing to mitigate this?

The changing geopolitical landscape has had a significant impact on our risk profile. International sanctions, tariff shifts, and new regulation all create operational and compliance challenges for a multinational business like ours. We responded decisively to sanctions on Russia and Belarus, ceasing operations and developing a robust global sanctions programme built on enhanced due diligence, regular import data checks, and continuous monitoring. Our team is also closely involved in assessing tariff developments, from post-Brexit impacts to shifting U.S. trade policies, to ensure the business remains agile and compliant.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Technical competence is essential, but it is only the starting point. When building my team, I focus on attitude, aptitude, and overall judgment. Effective in-house lawyers have a “business-first” mindset, understanding manufacturing, supply chains, finance, tax, and the commercial logic behind decisions. They balance legal and reputational risk with pragmatism, rather than trying to eliminate all risk, enabling the business to move forward confidently. Their role is to support, empower, and protect the business.