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 Luis Verdeja Lizama
Chairman & Founder
Luis Verdeja received a bicultural Spanish and British education and graduated with a degree in Economics from Complutense University in Madrid. He began his professional career as a Financial Director in an industrial company and later assumed Sales & Marketing responsibilities as well.
In 1980 he joined Oriflame Cosmetics, a Swedish company engaged in direct sales of cosmetics and listed on the London Stock Exchange, as CEO of the Spanish subsidiary. He remained with that company for ten years.
He has worked in executive search since 1990, joining Spencer Stuart, one of the leading multinational search firms, in 1994. He worked with this firm in its Madrid office until 1998 and then in its Miami, Florida office until the year 2000, when he returned to Spain to found Verdeja & Asociados in Madrid.
Both in Spain and in the U.S., Luis Verdeja has performed senior management searches for leading companies in a variety of sectors, including Telecommunications, Consultancy, Media, Entertain-ment, Publishing, Leisure & Hospitality, Energy, Industry, Consumer Goods, Luxury Products, Construction, Real Estate, Distribution and Banking.
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 Mercedes Martínez Ortiz
Partner
Mercedes Martínez holds a degree in Industrial Psychology from the
Complutense University in Madrid, as well as a Certificate of Special
Studies in Business & Administration from Harvard University.
She began working in Human Resources thirteen years ago when she accepted a position with an industrial company belonging to the Portuguese group Sonae.
Subsequently she joined Accenture (Andersen Consulting) and remained there for eight years. She began as a SAP/HR consultant for clients in the consumer goods, infrastructure, and pharmaceuticals sectors. During her last five years with the firm, she served as HR Director for Alnova Technologies Corporation, a group subsidiary engaged in developing and selling software for the banking sector.
She accepted a position at Carrier (UTC Group) as Human Resources Director for Spain & Portugal, and subsequently joined Verdeja & Asociados as Director of Consultancy.
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 Cristina Villa Alcázar
Board Member
Cristina Villa holds a degree in Industrial Psychology from the Complutense University in Madrid.
After three years in the marketing department of a Swedish electromedical group, she began working in executive search in 1997. Since then she has been engaged exclusively in research and assessment aimed at identifying and evaluating executive profiles.
As consultant, Cristina has worked for Spain’s leading companies in a broad range of sectors, including IT, Telecommunications, Construction, Real Estate, Media, Energy, Industry and Services, among others.
In early 2005 she joined Verdeja & Asociados as Board Member.
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 Juan del Yerro
Board Member
After graduating with a degree in Law from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1985, del Yerro began his career as an associate lawyer at the Bertrán & Musitu law firm (currently Landwell), where for seven years he advised on a very wide variety of transactions and specialized in labor law, pharmaceutical and food law, distribution contracts and licensing agreements.
He simultaneously served as Secretary and Legal Counsel for the boards of various Spanish companies controlled by foreign investors. He was active in international bodies as a member of the Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats and founding member of the Immigration European Lawyers Group.
In 1990 he co-founded the Interbeverage Services Group and dedicated himself fully to its growth and expansion. The Group currently employs over 250 people in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Currently he focuses his efforts on managing the companies in which he holds equity investments.
In 2004 he completed an Executive Education program at Harvard Business School and in 2005 became a member of the Madrid chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
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 Alicia Herrán
Board Member
Alicia holds a Degree in Economics from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and also earned other graduate degrees such as Master in Business Management and Marketing from CESEM, MBA from Open University of London and PADE from IESE.
She began her career in IBM in Spain in 1986 and remained in this company until 2000 with a very successful career. She worked in IBM Global Services where she had responsibilities over Mergers & Acquisitions. In her last assignment, she was Country Manager for Spain and Portugal in IBM Tivoli Systems.
Later, she became partner and Board Member of Ininvest and in 2004 was hired by Travelport, which owned Galileo and Gullivers Travel Associates, as General Manager for Spain.
Since 2007, she is CEO of Experian Spain and also has the responsibility for the company strategic accounts in EMEA.
Among Alicia´s interests, it should be highlighted her effort to promote and foster female presence in the Boards of Directors of the Spanish Companies.
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 Rafael Beneyto de Garnica
Board Member
Rafael Beneyto earned a degree in Law and Business Administration (E3) in 1969 from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid. He also holds a Master?s Degree in
Philosophy from the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid.
His professional career has been linked to the Spanish financial sector,
where he has held executive positions at Iberleasing, The First National
Bank of Boston, Citibank N.A. (Vice President), Rothschild Spain (Managing Director),
and Credit Agricole Indosuez (General Manager). Additionally, he was Executive
Director at Elsan Composan and served on the Boards of Directors of other important
corporations.
In 1999 Rafael decided to become actively involved in poverty reduction and
development activities, and in 2000 was appointed CEO of Ayuda en Acción, one of
the largest and most prestigious development NGOs in Spain, where he was key in the
completion of projects and in the presence of the organization in 22 countries in Latin
America, Asia, and Africa.
In 2010 he joined Verdeja & Asociados Executive Search as a senior partner in charge
of the Financial Services practice, among other responsibilities.
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 Pedro Velasco
Board Member
Pedro Velasco graduated from Complutense University in Madrid with an Economics degree in 1972. He later studied Applied Quantitative Statistics at the same university and took other postgraduate courses at Euroforum and IESE, two of Spain's most prestigious centers for management studies.
He began his career at Banco Urquijo and was named Deputy General Manager in 1989, while simultaneously serving as Chief Financial Officer of Galerías Preciados on the Bank's behalf.
He later joined Banco Hispano Americano as Vice President in the Corporate Banking Division, after which he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Hispamer, Spain's leading business and consumer finance company, in 1992. In 1997, he returned to Banco Hispano Americano to assume the position of CEO of Gestiones y Desarrollos Patrimoniales (GDP), the Group?s real estate divestment firm.
Following the merger with Banco de Santander, he was named Deputy General Manager in charge of Corporate Clients of the sales network.
As the bank's representative, he has served as Chairman and Board member of various financial and industrial companies, including Papelera de Navarra, Sarrió, and Vallehermoso.
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