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Drinking from a Fountain: How
Pablo Jimenez-Zorrilla Became
VP Legal & Corporate Affairs at
AB InBev Middle Americas
By Matthew Sullivan, ACC
In September 2005,
the US-based law firm
Sullivan & Cromwell
had just hired Pablo
Jimenez-Zorrilla.
He remembers the
Sunday before his
first day of work. As he was strolling
through Battery Park with his wife,
enjoying New York City’s scenery,
his phone rang; it was one of the law
firm’s partners.
“He told me: ‘You know Pablo, it’s
great that you’re going to be onboarding
tomorrow, but I could really use your
brain here. How about preparing some
information for a prospective client who
is looking into a potential transaction
in Mexico, and participating in a call
at nine o’clock in the morning.’ It was a
busy time, but I wouldn’t change anything about the amazing opportunity,”
Jimenez-Zorrilla reflects.
Stories like this showcase Jimenez-
Zorrilla’s infectious positivity, ambition,
and willingness to take life by the reins.
Now the vice president for legal and
corporate affairs of Anheuser-Busch
InBev (AB InBev) Middle Americas —
also known as Grupo Modelo in Mexico
— Jimenez-Zorrilla fondly looks back
on his professional career, and believes
that every decision served as a crucial
step that would ultimately lead him
toward his dream of overseeing a global
legal department. As he describes it,
benefiting from the knowledge and
expertise of his peers along the way was
like “drinking from a fountain.”
AB InBev is a beverage super-com-
pany that creates beer products like Co-
rona, Modelo, and Pacifico that are sold
around the world. In Mexico alone, its
regional subsidiary Grupo Modelo has
seven large-scale breweries, two craft
breweries, 10 vertical operations, and
a special supplement to ACC Docket
1 Drinking from a Fountain: How Pablo Jimenez-Zorrilla Became VP Legal & Corporate Affairs
at AB InBev Middle Americas
By Matthew Sullivan
4 See This, Latin America
By ACC
Pablo Jimenez-Zorrilla