Julian Benefield is Associate General Counsel at Foodstuffs and has worked at the Supermarket Co-op for over 5 years.  Foodstuffs is one of NZ’s largest organisations and is behind the PAK’nSAVE, New World and Four Square brands.  Prior to Foodstuffs, Julian worked in NZ and overseas at major law firms and in-house at international tech companies such as Telstra, online business REA Group and Sky in London.  At Foodstuffs, Julian continues to have a key Legal and Crisis Management role helping the Co-op navigate the COVID-19 Lockdowns when it has a critical role ensuring New Zealanders can access to the groceries they need  Julian has also led on a number of significant transformation projects and transactions for Foodies in recent years including key M&A transactions, its partnership with global data science company dunnhumby which is driving Foodies’ customer transformation, and the establishment and ongoing governance of the Foodies Foundation.  Julian is passionate about leverage tech, automation and innovation to increase the productivity of the Legal Team.  Julian was named 2020 In-House Lawyer of the Year, and was included in the 2021 List of NZ’s Most Influential Lawyers and the 2019-2020 NZ Lawyers’ In-House Leaders List.