Eduardo Nogueira – DHL

For Eduardo Nogueira, purpose is the anchor of his career. As Vice President of Legal for DHL Global Forwarding’s Latin America division, he believes that no matter the role—whether it is a warehouse worker moving a box, a driver navigating long routes, or an attorney defending the company in court—everyone at DHL is aligned around the same mission.

Eduardo Nogueira | DHL | VP, Legal LATAM Global Forwarding Division

“We connect people and improve lives. I truly believe that it does not matter if it is moving a box, driving a truck or defending the company in a lawsuit court; we have the same purpose,” Nogueira says.

DHL, the world’s leading logistics provider, has built a reputation not just for moving goods but for enabling global commerce and everyday life. With operations in more than 220 countries and territories, its services span international express, road and rail transport, air and ocean freight, parcel delivery, and supply chain management. The company is also a leader in sustainability, aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Within DHL Global Forwarding, which specializes in international freight forwarding, Nogueira is responsible for legal operations across 18 countries in Latin America.

His journey at DHL began over 20 years ago, and he has worn many hats along the way, including a brief tenure as interim CFO in Brazil just before COVID-19. He also had the opportunity to lead the digitalization and innovation team in one of the DHL business units, where he collaborated with engineers to design and execute a plan that helped the business advance on the digital agenda and on the innovation culture spread over the organization. That experience, combined with his long history in the legal field, prepared him for his current position, which he assumed in July 2023. Today, he leads a team of lawyers in the region tasked with not just mitigating risk but actively enabling sustainable growth in a region where regulations and laws shift constantly.

Transforming legal through technology

Nogueira sees legal not as a back-office support function but as a transformative partner in DHL’s growth strategy. His central focus is reshaping the legal department’s mindset so it evolves in parallel with the company’s ongoing digital transformation.

“The world is changing, logistics is changing, a lot of digitalization is changing, and legal is changing as well,” he explains.

This shift, he says, requires lawyers to embrace technology—not fear it. Generative AI in particular is at the center of his current projects. By analyzing workflows and identifying tasks that can be automated, Nogueira is working to ensure his team can spend less time on routine work and more time collaborating with the business on strategic initiatives.

“A lot of people want the change, but no one wants to change. If you want the change, you change,” he adds, highlighting the personal responsibility each lawyer must take to embrace innovation.

In practical terms, this means legal teams are being invited to use AI tools in their daily routines, streamline legal operations, and improve knowledge-sharing. However, Nogueira’s vision extends beyond efficiency; he sees technology as a means to empower lawyers to reimagine their role. Rather than being seen as gatekeepers who slow processes down, they can become business accelerators—helping DHL reach its digitalization goals outlined in its 2030 strategy.

Leadership through adaptability & communication

Nogueira’s leadership style is rooted in adaptability—something he believes proved essential during the pandemic. Because DHL had already invested in fostering an innovation mindset, its teams were better prepared to pivot when COVID-19 disrupted supply chains worldwide.

“Constructing a culture of adaptation helped us react quicker than others. After COVID, we are in a different world, and we are readjusting again,” he reflects.

For him, adaptability also goes hand in hand with communication. He stresses that true leadership is not about delivering a message but ensuring it is understood.

“Communication is not what you say, it is about what other people hear or read,” he notes. This philosophy guides how he manages his regional legal responsibilities, ensuring clarity across multiple jurisdictions, each with its own legal complexities.

Latin America, he points out, is often viewed as a single market, but the reality is that every country has unique and constantly changing regulations. His legal team works to harmonize these differences, providing stability not only for DHL but also for its clients and employees. In his words, their role is to enable and “accelerate sustainable growth”—a balance of legal compliance, people-first values, customer centricity, environmental awareness, and social responsibility.

By focusing on adaptability and communication, Nogueira ensures his team is not siloed from the business but integrated into its decision-making. This alignment, he says, is critical to achieving DHL’s long-term growth strategy and its five-year planning cycles.

Inspiring change beyond DHL

While transforming DHL’s legal function is a major part of his mission, Nogueira also devotes significant energy to inspiring change beyond corporate walls. More than a decade ago, he co-founded JURIDICO SEM GRAVATA, a nonprofit initiative whose name translates to “remove the tie” and intends to mean a more slim and straightforward corporate approach, removing the “mental knots” present in the minds of some corporate legal professionals. Created with seven other general counsels, the group sought to challenge traditional views of the legal profession. The tie knot, in their symbolism, represented outdated practices and rigid thinking.

“We wanted to eliminate bad practices, rigid thinking and show the importance of knowing about things beyond just legal skills. Legal skills are not enough—you need more,” he explains.

Through JURIDICO SEM GRAVATA, the group developed postgraduate programs designed to equip lawyers with broader competencies, ranging from innovation and communication to business strategy. Today, the initiative is widely recognized in Brazil’s legal executive environment as a model for enriching the corporate legal professional education.

This combination of corporate leadership and nonprofit engagement reflects Nogueira’s broader vision: inspiring lawyers for a rapidly evolving world. He draws that inspiration from his grandfather, who was also a lawyer. He remembers visiting his grandfather’s office, located near a church and courthouse, where he would watch clients line up outside. His grandfather’s mastery of writing and his vast library were his tools. Over time, machines and computers transformed how legal work was done. Today, AI is the next major shift, and Nogueira sees it as both inevitable and necessary.

“We as a company are people-driven. What moves my heart is changing the mindset of legal. Transforming the way lawyers think about their own capabilities is all about people and how to connect people.”

At 46, Nogueira sees his role at DHL as part of a long-term journey. He is deeply committed to his current team and region. Still, he is also open to new challenges, whether that means leading in a different geography or taking on expanded responsibilities. What is certain, he says, is that AI and digitalization will continue to reshape logistics and legal. Lawyers, like every other function at DHL, must adapt constantly if they want to remain relevant and impactful.

Being a member of a strong team, having a proven record of adaptability, and communicating his passion for pushing legal beyond its traditional limits, Nogueira is helping to position DHL’s Latin American legal operations not just to support the business but to drive it forward. In doing so, he is truly living DHL’s purpose: “Connecting People, Improving Lives”—not only through logistics, but by redefining what it means to be a lawyer in the 21st century.