About

A legal professional who has proven her skill in both private practice and in-house roles in multiple locations, notably India, Hong Kong, London and Singapore, Ipsita Aggarwal moved to Olam in 2012 with explicit instructions to create and mould an exceptional legal department for the business: ‘I joined Olam as their general counsel with the mandate to start and grow their global legal function. It has been an interesting journey to grow and structure a team that today provides support to over 20 businesses across 70 countries. We have a team of very capable senior lawyers- building and managing the team has helped me grow as a lawyer and as a leader within a global multinational’. Aggarwal’s newly created team was in action and adding value to the company very soon after its inception. ‘Soon after I joined Olam, we dealt with a particularly challenging situation where the company was under attack. Working with top management and capable advisors though this to ensure the company came out unharmed shaped me hugely as a business lawyer’, she recalls. This, along with her leading of a number of high-value M&A transactions with Olam – including the acquisition of ADM’s global cocoa business which was the largest in Olam’s history – ranks as among her main career highlights. ‘While a number of legal professionals take on general counsel roles, I have been particularly fortunate to have had both the opportunity and the challenge to start and build a key function in an already large multinational corporation involved in incredibly diverse business lines. It has been a truly rewarding journey’, she says.