Pilar S. Ramos is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of TelevisaUnivision Inc., the world’s leading Spanish-language content and media company.
Ramos joined TelevisaUnivision in the lead-up to a historic $4.8 billion merger of two Spanish language media giants – Univision & Televisa. The merger brought together the prolific content library and production capabilities of Televisa, the leading media company in Latin America based in Mexico and Univision Communications, Inc., the leading Spanish-language media company in the U.S. Once combined, the company launched its global streaming service, ViX, the first large-scale streaming service to exclusively serve the Spanish-speaking world, which was recognized in 2022 for Apple TV App of the Year award.
In her role, Ramos restructured the legal department at the company to create synergies and build out key enterprise functions: Data Privacy, Compliance, Legal Operations, and Government Affairs. She has transformed the function to design one global team, with 40 percent of her department being in year one at the company, including 70 percent of her senior leadership team being new.
Before joining TelevisaUnivision, Ramos had an extensive career in leadership at Mastercard. Most recently, she served as General Counsel across North America, providing strategic advice on all legal, regulatory, government, and franchise affairs. Prior to that role, Ramos was Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy, and Regulatory Strategy Counsel, leading public policy and regulatory advocacy for the company in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, managing a global team across these markets. She worked extensively on trade policy matters with the U.S. and other governments, focusing on market access and trade in data and services issues, concepts that were absent or underemphasized in trade agreements. She began her tenure at Mastercard as Region Counsel in the Latin America and Caribbean Region.
Before joining Mastercard, Ramos worked as an in-house counsel in the entertainment sector and the internet marketplace. She began her legal career as an associate at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, working in the New York and London offices on international capital markets and syndicated finance matters.
Ramos credits her world view on her global personal and professional life experience, which reinforced for her the criticality of diversity and access to opportunity needed to advance business and society. Ramos is a life member of The Council on Foreign Relations. She also serves as Co-chair of the Alumni Advisory Board for Inclusion & Engagement at The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and as a Director on the Board of LatinoJustice and the YWCA Greenwich, each being social justice organizations. In the past, she has served on the Board of Directors of Appleseed, and the United States Council for International Business. She has been a generous mentor through various formal and informal channels, such as The 30% Club and she is a vocal advocate for advancing diversity in the legal profession, particularly at leadership levels, including through her involvement with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
Among Ramos’ recognitions, she has been most recently honored as a Legal Champion of the Arts by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, the Change Agent award for spearheading Diversity in the profession by the Counsil of Urban Professionals, the National Women in Law Award for Transformative Leadership by Corporate Counsel, the Aiming High Award by Legal Momentum, and the Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award from the Leadership Institute for Women of Color Attorneys.
Ramos received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and received a B.A cum laude in International Relations and in French. She also served as an Executive Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. In addition, Ramos carried out part of her undergraduate studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, France.