“Actions speak louder than words – BECA is about action with real impact and it has already had a profound impact with the playbook addressing head-on the barrier often raised in talent discussion, namely, the pool of diverse talent is too small – no longer should that be a barrier to progress”

Louise Pentland

Board Member
Chief Counsel & Strategic Advisor
The Walt Disney Company, Disney Experiences

Louise Pentland serves as Chief Counsel and Strategic Advisor to the Chairman of Disney Experiences, a segment of The Walt Disney Company.

Previously, Louise served on PayPal’s Senior Leadership Team as a counselor and senior advisor, supporting the company’s executive team and Board on key strategic priorities. From 2015 through 2021, Louise served as PayPal’s Executive Vice President, Chief Business Affairs & Legal Officer, a role in which she oversaw the company’s global Legal, Corporate Affairs, and Board functions, as well as matters relating to PayPal’s Environmental, Social and Governance strategy and impact. From 2019 through mid-2021, Louise also led the company’s Human Resources function.

Having spent 20 years as a senior executive at innovative global technology companies, Louise brings a global understanding of business, law, HR, leadership, innovation, and culture to her role on PayPal’s Senior Leadership Team. Before joining PayPal, Louise served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Nokia Corporation where she managed a team of more than 400 lawyers, IP experts, government relations professionals, and support staff working in more than 30 countries. During this time, she led M&A integration and ran an intellectual property P&L of over one billion euros annually. Early in her career, Louise was an in-house lawyer at Avon Cosmetics, worked in a law firm in England, and taught corporate law and business as a law professor for two colleges in the UK.

Louise has been a member of the Experian board of directors since November 2022, The Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) since March 2022, and Hitachi Ltd’s board of directors since 2015. She was a board member of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley’s board from 2016 to 2022, served a two-year term on the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s board from 2018 to 2020, and Nokia Siemens Networks from 2012 to 2014.

Louise holds an LLB (Hons) law degree and is licensed to practice law in England, Wales, and Ireland, and is a licensed attorney admitted to the New York bar.

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