Rishi Varma serves as Cargill’s Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary. At a global level, he oversees corporate governance, ethics & compliance, security, government relations, commercial law, intellectual property, labor and employment and shareholder relations. Additionally, Rishi is a member of Cargill’s Executive Team. He was appointed as Chair of Cargill Asia Pacific effective January 2025. As Chair of Asia Pacific, Rishi will drive the implementation of Cargill’s Asia strategy for profitable growth. Rishi is known for being a respected advisor who leads with passion and purpose.
Prior to joining Cargill in January 2024, Rishi served as General Counsel at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Before joining HPE, Rishi served as general counsel for two different publicly traded companies from 2005 to 2013 – TPC Group, Inc., a petrochemical company, and Trico Marine Services, Inc., a global subsea service provider. Prior to these companies, Rishi served as securities counsel and director of investor relations for EGL, Inc., a publicly traded global freight forwarder, and as a business associate in the New York office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, LP.
In addition, Rishi is committed to advancing the way people live and work by serving on several non-profit boards. Rishi serves on the Board of the Tahirih Justice Center, where he has worked on various matters including visa and asylum cases. He also serves on the board of the Texas Asia Society, the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the West, as well as the Memorial Hermann Hospital System Board, the Equal Justice Works Board of Counselors, and the Georgetown University Law Center Advisory Board.
He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. Rishi and his wife, Michelle, have three children.
