Features Region: Latin America

Throughout Rafael Aguirre’s life, his career and all of the projects he’s developed have been a study of form following function. Coming from a long line of engineers, that’s no surprise. Tinkering with problems, creating efficiencies and solving operational challenges is in his blood, he says. At the tender age of 16, his family supported […]

There’s more to Hooters than meets the eye, although most patrons of the restaurant chain would admit to being drawn to the sight of waitresses in revealing attire. Alejandro Solis certainly recognizes the visual aspect as a selling point, but as the holding company he leads, Grupo Dival, expands the iconic Hooters brand as well […]

Due to its excellent Caribbean location, the Dominican Republic has the presence of different and world-renowned chains of fast food restaurants. This led to the McDonald’s chain of fast food arriving in this country in 1996, initially located in Santo Domingo, capital of the island nation. A year later, taking advantage of the expansion model that […]

It’s a long stretch from his office in Santiago, Chile, to Quito, Ecuador–over 2,350 miles to the north. But Ricardo Muza, legal director of Pfizer’s Andean Region for the past seven years, has a way of finding common ground between the operations of those far-apart locations as well as in the other three countries in […]

Diversity has many meanings, and the general counsel for HSBC Brazil Investment Bank and HSBC Group Argentina thinks every single one is important. When Pedro Frade discusses workplace diversity, he’s not just talking euphemistically about employees who are of mixed ethnicity or a certain gender. Likewise, he’s not just using the term in that other, […]

In 1980s Bogota, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a Renault 4. An economy hatchback first produced in 1966, it remains one of the French automaker’s most iconic models. In Colombia, as in other places, it was everywhere—a symbol of upward mobility in a country where economic stability was rarely a given. So when […]

Homer Simpson once said, “Well, I’m not one for taking new jobs on a whim. But as we say in the snow plow business, ‘I’m your astronaut.’” Homer may be a walking contradiction, and a cartoon to boot, but he hit the nail on the head when it comes to not taking a new job […]

When you think of happy, carefree professionals, lawyers might be the last people who come to mind. Spend any time in Jose Pedro Urrutia’s legal department, however, and you’ll quickly realize it is possible for lawyers to love what they do—and where they work. He’s even found a word for his approach, inspired by a […]

Say you’re a general counsel for a major corporation. A modest acquisition—something in the seven-to-nine-figure range—might take up a few months of bandwidth, not including the integration process that can stretch on for years. If the company’s really in growth mode, maybe you handle more than one. And Bayer’s recent $62.5 billion acquisition of agribusiness […]

A job offer like this comes around maybe once in a career—if you’re lucky. Having just turned 30, Daniel Pérez -Umaña understood, both professionally and personally, the weight and stakes of what was in front of him: a job as general counsel for BAC Credomatic, one of Central America’s largest banks. And yet, he hesitated […]