Nilema Bhakta-Jones

Nilema Bhakta-Jones is Kantar’s General Counsel, responsible for developing a global legal service aligned to Kantar’s strategy and priorities as an independent company. Prior to joining Kantar, Bhakta-Jones was most recently COO of Farillio, a legal tech platform for SMEs, CEO of Alacrity, a platform business for enterprise, and General Counsel of Ascential plc, a B2B information services and events business (and owner of Cannes Lions), for 11 years. As GC of Ascential, she advised on international and domestic M&A, JVs, IP and a broad range of legal contentious & regulatory issues and built the team that supported the business through to IPO.

Nilema qualified as a Barrister in 1994, worked for the British Government Legal Service, later joined international firm Simmons & Simmons as a litigator for 6 years before becoming a General Counsel. In addition to her legal qualifications Nilema has additionally studied Advanced Management at Henley and Innovation at Harvard.

Nilema is founder of the Courageous Leadership Event, which strives to empower leaders to find the courageous leader within themselves. The event, in collaboration with the charity Plan International UK, funds an education project for disadvantaged Zimbabwean girls to continue their education. She is additionally an ambassador and chief advisor for Empathy Week, which ‘trains the empathy muscle in young people.