Biography
Maria is Group Executive Committee Member, Group General Counsel and Commercial and Contract Management at Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, technology, digital and outsourcing services with annual revenues of € 12.5 billion, with presence in more than 40 countries and around 200,000 employees worldwide.
Based in Paris, she leads the Group Legal Function with almost 200 professionals. She is in charge of the definition and implementation of the Group's legal agenda and associated programms and she is responsible for the legal support to the Business Units, the Corporate, Data Privacy, Legal Regulatory and Compliance, Intellectual Property and M&A legal affairs. She is member of the Group Review Board.
Maria has 20 years of experience in managerial positions of large international corporations, working on all kind of legal affairs at country/regional levels in a wide range of different jurisdictions (Europe, Middle East, Africa and America among others) and at headquarters level with worldwide responsibilities.
After starting her career as external legal advisor at Price Waterhouse (“PW Tax & Legal Services”) at the Madrid Office, Maria Pernas joined “Sema Group” that, following several acquisition processes became the ATOS Group.
Maria held different managerial positions in ATOS. In 1999 she was appointed General Counsel Iberia and South America and worldwide General Counsel for the business unit Major Events and Entertainment. In 2004 she took over the position of “Vice-President General Counsel South Europe, Middle East, Africa and South America” at the Rome office while keeping her previous responsibilities as General Counsel Major Events and Entertainment. In 2008 Maria moved to Paris and was successively appointed Group Deputy General Counsel Major Contracts, Group Deputy General Counsel Compliance, Litigations and Corporate Affairs, Senior Vice-President, Deputy Group General Counsel and, in 2016, Senior Vice-President, Group General Counsel Operations.
She is VP of the Board of Directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel - ACC Europe - and member of the Board of Directors of WIL Europe. She is also member of the Madrid Bar Association, the Cercle Montesquieu (France) and the International Association for Commercial and Contract Management.
In 2006 she received the award “Manager of the Year” (“Mujer Joven Directiva”) granted by the "Federacion Espanola de Mujeres Directivas, Ejecutivas, Profesionales y Empresarias” (Spanish Federation of Business and Professional Women). In 2014 she was shortlisted by the International Law Office for the European Counsel Award "General Commercial Individual of the Year" (five nominees at European level).
Maria took a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Madrid and a Master’s degree in European Union Law and International Relations, followed by specific studies on Information Technology Law. Maria is married with one child.
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