Effie D. Silva is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Del Monte, a position she has held since 2022. She serves as principal legal advisor to the Chief Executive Officer, the executive leadership team, and the Board of Directors, and leads a global legal organization with enterprise-wide accountability for legal affairs, risk management, food safety, government affairs, and corporate reporting.
Over more than 25 years, Ms. Silva has counseled CEOs, boards, and C-suites through consequential legal and business decisions at Del Monte, Cargill, and Tyson Foods – three of the largest and most complex enterprises in global consumer products, representing combined enterprise revenue exceeding $200 billion. At Cargill, she was the senior-most compliance officer for the company’s $50 billion Protein and Salt division. At Tyson Foods, she served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel, responsible for all legal matters impacting the company’s $10 billion prepared foods business division and the enterprise-wide sustainability function.
Ms. Silva began her career in private practice, building an international practice at Baker McKenzie, one of the world’s largest law firms, before becoming a partner at McDermott Will & Schulte and Duane Morris. She advised multinational corporations on cross-border transactions, regulatory compliance, and complex disputes across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
She is NACD Directorship Certified®, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and Board Certified in International Litigation and Arbitration by The Florida Bar. She is qualified as an arbitrator and neutral with the ICDR/AAA, CPR, FINRA, and SIAC, and is a member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association’s PODER program.
She serves on the boards of the Braille Institute of America and America On Tech, is a member of the Orange Bowl Committee, and is an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Florida Levin College of Law Board.
Ms. Silva holds a J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a B.A. in International Relations and Studio Art from Wellesley College.