José María Álvarez-Pallete López (born 12 December 1963,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Telefónica S.A. , S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...

from 8 April 2016 to January 2025, when he was replaced by

Marc Murtra Marc Thomas Murtra Millar (born 1972), better known as Marc Murtra, is a Spanish engineer and businessman. Since January 2025, he has been the executive Chairman of Telefónica. From 2021 to 2025 he was President of Indra Sistemas. He is also a bo ...

Professional career

José María Álvarez-Pallete began his professional career at Arthur Young Auditors in 1987, before joining Benito & Monjardín/Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1988. After this, in 1995, he joined the Compañía Valenciana de Cementos Portland (CEMEX) as head of the Investor Relations and Analysis Department. In 1996, he was promoted to

Chief Financial Officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

in Spain, and in 1998 to Chief Administration and Finance Officer of the CEMEX Group Indonesia and to member of the Board of CEMEX Asia Ltd. In February 1999, he joined the Telefónica Group as de of Telefónica Internacional SA, and on September of that same year he took up the post of Managing Director of the Corporate & Finance in

In July 2002, he was appointed Executive Chairman of Telefonica International S.A., in July 2006,

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Latin America Telefonica, and in March 2009,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of Latin America Telefonica. In September 2011, he was promoted to

(CEO) of Telefónica Europe; at that time, he developed

Wayra Wayra is a technological innovation hub, which was started in Latin America and Spain in 2011 as an initiative of Telefónica's chief executive in Europe, José María Álvarez-Pallete. Wayra operates through 11 hubs in 10 countries within Telefó ...

, the accelerator of

Startup Company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He is Managing Director of

since 17 September 2012, and he became also a member of the Administrative Board of Telefónica S.A. in July 2006. In addition to this, he is a member of the Executive Committee of Telefónica. On 20 March 2016, César Alierta left the position of

(CEO) of

and named José Maria Álvarez-Pallete as his successor, who took up the CEO position on 8 April 2016, Since March 2019 he is member of the Advisory Council of SEAT, S.A. In January 2022, he was appointed president of the GSM Association (GSMA) succeeding the president of Orange, Stéphane Richard. In February 2022, José María Álvarez-Pallete assumes the presidency of Fundación Telefónica, replacing César Alierta. In November 2022, he was re-elected as President of the GSMA and will hold the position until the end of 2024. In June 2023, Álvarez Pallete takes over as chairman of the board of Virgin Media O2, Telefónica's British subsidiary. He succeeds Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries, who has held the seat for the company's first two years. In 2025 a new shareholder structure named Marc Murtra executive chairman of Telefónica.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Endeavor, Member of the Board of Directors *

Portugal Telecom Altice Portugal S.A. (formerly known as PT Portugal) is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Since 2 June 2015 the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Altice, a multinational cable and telecommunications company ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (2008–2010)

Non-profit organizations

* Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Member of the Board of Trustees *

European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table for Industry (previously known as the European Round Table of Industrialists), abbreviated ERT, is a cross-sectoral forum and advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 60 European industrial businesspeople wo ...

(ERT), Member *

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. I ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees

Awards and recognition

* 2001 – Best “CFO Europe Best Practices” award in the Mergers & Acquisitions category for the year 2000 *2003 – Member of Merit at the Ibero-American Forum of the Fundación Carlos III *2007 – Master of Gold of the High Direction Forum * 2011 – Economics Person of the Year, awarded by the journal ''El Economista'' *2013 – Received the Excellence 2013 Award, for his contribution to the development of telecommunications, granted by the Spanish Telecommunication Engineers Association * 2014 – Sorolla Medal, awarded by the

Hispanic Society of America The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appl ...

* 2014 – Innovative Corporate Leader of the Year, awarded by the Latin Trade Magazine * 2014 – Most Creative People, listed by Fast Company Magazine *2016 – The Consejo Superior de Deportes granted him the entry in the Royal Order of Merit Sports in the category of Bronze Medal *2017 –

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

magazine recognized José María Álvarez-Pallete as the best CEO of companies that quoted in Spain in 2016 *2019 – He received the "Manager of the Year" award in the Large Corporations category granted by the Asociación Española de Directivos *2019 – He received the "Executive of the Year" award in the second edition of the awards for economic, social and business excellence by Merca2 *2019 – “Business Leader of the Year” by the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce *2020 – ECOFIN prize for "Financiero del Año" *2020 – "Lider Empresarial Impulsor del Marketing" by the Spanish Marketing Association *2022 – He received the award "Mejor Empresario del Año" from Actualidad Económica, economic supplement of El Mundo. *2023 – Doctor "Honoris Causa" by the CEU San Pablo University. *2023 – José María Álvarez-Pallete receives the León Award from El Español for Business Management 2023. *2024 – Americas Society Gold Medal for its strategic vision and ongoing commitment to innovation.

References