ECIJA Mexico expands its range of services with the aim of consolidating its position as a full-service firm in the country. The Latin American firm with the largest presence in Latin America has announced the opening of the Advisory line in Mexico with the incorporation of its new partners Gustavo Contró and Gerardo Villavicencio. With this incorporation, ECIJA adds a total of 9 partners in Mexico together with a team of more than 35 professionals.
ECIJA Advisory is ECIJA Group’s line of services aimed at solving the financial, tax, accounting, human resources, corporate governance, audit and forensic needs of large business groups as well as medium-sized companies and startups. The Advisory line, which has local teams in the different countries where ECIJA operates, is composed in Mexico by two service units: financial and compliance.
In this regard, Gerardo Villavicencio will lead the financial services team, which includes corporate governance and forensics services. The new Partner has more than 28 years of experience in advising on business transformation, profit and loss, management and executive leadership, business processes, strategic planning, mergers, and acquisitions, as well as financial planning and analysis. He has held various management and CEO positions in multinationals such as The Dow Chemical Company, General Electric and most recently SGS. In addition, he has participated as an independent Director in Holcim in Chile, through its subsidiary Polpaico. Given his extensive experience, he has a deep knowledge of the management of companies in various industries. In the last 18 years he has held leadership and management roles in Mexico and Latin America with international assignments, government affairs, related to the chemical, health, oil, gas, power generation and ICT-Industrial, environmental, health and safety (EHS), food and beverage, mining and automotive sectors.
Likewise, the compliance services line will be headed by Gustavo Contró. Gustavo will lead the accounting, human resources, audit and CFO as a service portfolio. The new partner of ECIJA Advisory will also assume the functions as CFO of the Firm in Mexico. Gustavo has more than 34 years of experience in the areas of finance, treasury, administration, audit and operations. He has served as CFO for the LATAM Region of IPSOS, Cardtronics and other IT and telecommunications multinationals. Gustavo Contró has a deep knowledge of telecommunications, marketing, and financial services industries.
Among his most outstanding professional achievements, he has led the restructuring of finance departments, established policies and procedures in various companies, as well as the implementation of fiscal, financial, operational and payroll strategies, optimizing economic resources, guaranteeing savings and liquidity with a solid strategic and business vision.
From Gerardo Villavicencio, Partner of ECIJA Advisory Mexico: "We work in an increasingly global world, where clients demand solutions that integrate their day-to-day business through a single interlocutor. ECIJA Advisory provides that added value that will allow clients to improve their business management and development".
In the words of Gustavo Contró, Partner of ECIJA Advisory Mexico: "Our experience in the field of startups and entrepreneurship has been key in this launching. These types of clients and the entrepreneurial ecosystem increasingly require agile and simple solutions. Therefore, the services we offer through Advisory are complementary to the specialized legal advice at national and international level".
Ricardo Chacón, Managing Partner of ECIJA Mexico, added: "We are very excited with the opening of our global Advisory operation in Mexico, following in the footsteps of our international vocation of providing comprehensive advice to our clients." For Joaquín Rodríguez, member of the executive committee of ECIJA Mexico: "Our clients are global and increasingly demand more comprehensive services. The services that ECIJA Advisory will now provide in Mexico, expand our global service offering, at a juncture where nearshoring and Mexico's geostrategic position play an important role".
The new incorporations of Gustavo Contró and Gerardo Villavicencio are announced after ECIJA Mexico announced last February the opening of the Environment and Sustainability practice, as well as the incorporation of the new partner Carlos del Razo who leads it. These movements are part of ECIJA’s expansion and consolidation plan as a full-service firm in Mexico and leader in LATAM.
About ECIJA
ECIJA, with more than 28 years of international professional experience, is one of the leading firms in the global market, as recognized by international directories such as Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500. It has been recognized by The Lawyer as the best TMT firm in Europe and by the Financial Times as the most innovative firm in continental Europe 2022. ECIJA is the Latin American firm with the largest presence in Latin America and has offices in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.