Nicolas De Santis (born 18 March 1966) is an

internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some CEOs ...

. He is the CEO of Corporate Vision, a strategy consulting firm and technology incubator. In 2004 he became the President and secretary general of

Gold Mercury International Award The Gold Mercury International Award is presented by Gold Mercury International, an International nongovernmental organization (INGO) and think tank. The original Mercurio D'oro awards were given by an association of Italian journalists to Italian ...

, a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

and global governance award organisation founded in 1961.

Early life

Nicolas De Santis is the son of Spanish actress

Maria Cuadra Maria Cuadra (born Madrid 26 December 1936) is a Spanish film, television and theater actress who has starred in productions including: Platero y yo, Ultimo Encuentro, Vuelve San Valentin, Marinai, donne e guai and I tromboni di Fradiavolo with Ug ...

and film producer

Eduardo De Santis Eduardo De Santis (September 7, 1929 - March 25, 2019) was an Italian actor, film producer, writer and philanthropist, best known as the founder and chairman of Gold Mercury International Award a think tank and global governance award organisatio ...

Internet Entrepreneur

De Santis is an early

. He was the

marketing director A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may ...

and co-founder of European online travel portal Opodo, a position which he left in 2003. Nicolas was recruited by Spencer Stuart from beenz.com in 2001 to become the chief marketing officer of Opodo, the European travel portal originally co-owned with 9 European airlines including

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiar ...

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its ...

and

Finnair Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

. Opodo was the European version of

Orbitz Orbitz.com is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. The website is owned by Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a subsidiary of Expedia Group. It is headquartered in the Citigroup Center, Chicago, Illinois. Background Origina ...

, the American travel website owned by various American airlines. In 2008, Opodo's turnover reached €1.3 billion in gross sales.Opodo, 2009. "Opodo 2008 Results Announcement". http://www.opodo.co.uk/opodo/StrutsServlet/DisplayNewsStory?pageName=pressroom&OID=29112571 . Retrieved 3 September 2014. His previous internet venture was beenz.com (the first virtual internet currency) where he was chief marketing officer. De Santis invested in and joined beenz.com in 1999 as one of the founding team members. De Santis helped to raise $100 million from several high-profile investors including

Carlo de Benedetti Carlo De Benedetti (born 14 November 1934) ''"Sfide perse e vinte: Repubblica-Mondadori"'', ''Gazzetta di Mantova'', 10 March 1998, webpage is an Italian industrialist, engineer, and publisher. He is both an Italian and naturalized Swiss citiz ...

(Espresso/La Repubblica Group) and François Pinault, holding company Artemis. Beenz was sold in 2001 to the US Carlson Marketing Group.Dean Tomasula, Direct Marketing News, 5 October 2011. "Carlson Marketing Group to Buy Beenz.com". http://www.dmnews.com/carlson-marketing-group-to-buy-beenzcom/article/74874/. Retrieved 3 September 2014. De Santis launched the beenz.com brand in UK, US, France, Japan, Singapore, Italy, Korea, Australia and China.

Captain Euro

In the 1990s, De Santis worked for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

under President

Enrique Baron Crespo Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (D ...

where he advised on issues relating to European identity and the launch of the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

currency. As part of the launch of the Euro currency he developed and launched the controversial

Captain Euro Captain Euro is a fictional comic book-style superhero character, created in 1999 as a way to promote the European Union, and specifically the Euro, the single European currency that arrived in 2002. The character has been featured on a website ( ...

, Europe’s superhero, designed to analyse the perceptions and emotions of Europeans regarding

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single ...

and European identity, and appeal to the people. It aimed to appeal to the European youth, and espouse the virtues of integration. Captain Euro strongly divided public opinion, with some finding it to have anti-semitic undertones and ineffective. De Santis defended against claims of anti-semitism, saying that his father was tortured by the Nazis during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Brand EU Centre

In 2013, De Santis launched the

Brand EU The Brand EU Centre (in short, Brand EU) is a pro-EU research and communications centre created and run by think tank Gold Mercury International and CorporateVision.io a strategy consulting firm, both located in London, England, United Kingdom. ...

Centre, an independent, pro-EU initiative to improve the management of the

brand. The Centre has been launched with the support of former

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

President

and American Investor Todd Ruppert.

Background

De Santis started his career at

Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company maintains 26 offices in 20 countr ...

(now

WPP Group WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many compan ...

) where his father was a partner. As a strategy advisor, Nicolas has created strategies and visions for governments, academic institutions, global brands, and technology start-ups, such as: British Airways, Opodo, Morgan Stanley, Iberdrola, Garanti Bank, Coca-Cola, PRISA and the European Union (see

), among others.

Board memberships

De Santis was a board member of

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

-listed Lyris Technologies – a

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development duri ...

& CRM analytic solutions company. Based in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...

, California, Lyris was acquired by Texas-based AUREA Software in 2015. In January 2013, he joined the board of the

Global Virus Network The Global Virus Network (GVN) is an international coalition of medical virologists whose goal is to help the international medical community by improving the detection and management of viral diseases. The network was founded in 2011 by Robert G ...

(GVN) where he is a senior advisor. De Santis believes that: "As our planet's population grows exponentially, GVN's role in tackling old and new viruses will become central in preventing, protecting and curing present and future generations." In 2019, he joined the board of trustees of the World Law Foundation, an international organisation promoting peace and respect for the rule of law, associated with the World Jurist Association. In 2021, he joined the board of directors of Nasdaq-listed Ferroglobe, a producer of silicon metal, silicon-based alloys and manganese-based specialty alloys.News Release, 14 May 2021. https://investor.ferroglobe.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ferroglobe-announces-new-appointments-and-changes-board Retrieved 16 May 2021.

Personal life

He is married to the American swimsuit designer Melissa Odabash, and they have two teenage daughters.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santis, Nicolas De 1966 births Living people People from Madrid Spanish businesspeople