Isabelle Deschamps
General Counsel for Categories and Trade Marks, Unilever
Isabelle is dual citizen of Canada and Great Britain, also dual-qualified. She is, since the end of 2012, General Counsel Global Categories at Unilever PLC (euros c. 50 bn), with global responsibility for the legal support to the four Global Categories/Division: Personal Care, Homecare, Food and Refreshment and to Group functions such as Sustainability, Marketing, Media, Communication and External Affairs. In addition she is responsible for Brand Intellectual Property (trademarks) worldwide.
Before joining Unilever, Isabelle was Head of Legal and Company Secretary at Nestle UK and Ireland (£3bn business – foods, beverages, pet food, water, nutrition, coffee systems and medical nutrition). Over these years, in addition, she has held various other responsibilities, including Chair of the Compliance committee and Trustee Director of pension funds. She started her in-house career with the Nestle Group (CHF92 bn business) first as Legal Counsel for the Latin American and North American regions, and Global Counsel to a joint venture in breakfast cereals with General Mills, then, Legal Counsel, M&A and joint ventures (North America, Latin America, Asia, Oceania and Africa, Europe). She started her career in private practice in Montreal, Canada.