Alumni Talk: Maxine Kennett on “Trade Compliance – Not for the faint-hearted”

Ensuring trade compliance and optimizing trade-related business operations within a multi-national company is not for the faint-hearted. Maxine Kennett, the Global Head of Trade at Hitachi Energy, gives insight into the fast-paced and challenging work of an in-house trade compliance professional.

Speaker's biography

Maxine Kennett is the Global Head of Trade at Hitachi Energy.  She is an international lawyer, with a specialization in trade law and compliance, and more than 20 years of experience in leading large multinational teams and programs.

She started her career as a commercial lawyer for the international law firm, Allen & Overy, and then worked for governments and international governmental organizations in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East as a Legal Policy Advisor, Trade Negotiator and Economic Growth Specialist. In 2010, she moved to the private sector to become the Head of Legal Affairs (General Counsel) at the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and thereafter the Global Head of Trade Affairs at Syngenta.

In January 2020, she joined Hitachi Energy (a global energy company with 40,000 employees) as the Global Head of Trade – where she leads the Trade team (of approximately 70 team members) to ensure trade compliance and optimize trade related business operations.

She is qualified as a lawyer in the UK, Ireland and Switzerland and an alumna of the University of Bern.