This In-House Insight was published in IHC eMagazine Vol1, Issue 1. to read the full magazine, please click here. Carina Wessels is the Executive: Governance, Legal & Compliance at Alexander Forbes and Advocate of the High Court of South Africa.     Q: Tell us a little about your professional background and how you found this present role? I am grateful for a varied career, which truly made me a well-rounded and commercially minded executive. I’ve managed company aircraft, balanced scorecard facilitation and coordination, managed SAP projects, bespoke 20 keys (similar to the Toyota production system principles) and performed many continuous business improvement interventions. Over the last 14 years, I was principally involved in the governance, legal and compliance disciplines. And after a decade and a half in the mining industry, I moved to financial services in 2017 (Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited) as Group Company Secretary. Six months later, I was the Group Company Secretary and General Counsel and a year after that I became the Executive of Governance, Legal and Compliance. Q: How big is your team and how is it structured? I have 26 people in the bigger team, most directly managed by Fiona Rollason, Head of Legal and Group Insurance, Shabnam Parker, Chief Compliance Officer and the Assistant Group Secretary/Assistant General Counsel. But that last position is presently vacant. Q: What are the biggest challenges for in-house lawyers? Establishing a solid and mutually supportive relationship with business is a constant challenge. This is  especially true if in-house lawyers aren’t commercially minded or focused on enabling legal solutions. The ability to operate in “the grey” is crucial. Also,...