Executive team

Mr. José María Álvarez-Pallete López

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Telefónica Europe.

Born in Madrid, the 12th of December 1963.

Mr. Álvarez-Pallete has a degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. He also studied Economics at the Free University of Brussels, in Belgium, holds an international Management Programme from IPADE and an Advance Research Degree from the Complutense University of Madrid.

In February 1999 he joined the Telefónica Group as a General Manager of Finance for Telefónica Internacional, S.A. In September of the same year it was given the post of General Manager of Corporate Finance in Telefónica, S.A. In July 2002 he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Telefónica Internacional, S.A. In July 2006, Managing Director of Telefónica Latin America and Chairman and in Mach 2009, CEO of Telefónica Latin America.

Since the 5th of September 2011 he is Chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe and Member of the Board of Telefónica, S.A., position that holds since July 2006. He is also one of Members of the Telefónica Executive Committee.

He began his professional career with Auditors Arthur Young in 1987, before joining Benito & Monjardín / Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1988. After this, in 1995, he joined the Company of Cementos Portland (Cemex) as head of the Investor Relations and Studies Department. In 1996, he was promoted to Financial Manager for Spain and in 1998, to General Manager for Administration and Finance responsible for the Cemex Group´s interests in Indonesia and member of the Board of Cemex Asia, Ltd.

In 2001, he won the CFO Europe Best Practice Award in the category of Mergers and Acquisitions 2000 by the CFO Europe Magazine (The Economist Group). He is also Honorific Member of Carlos III Foundation Latin-American Forum since April 2003 and in July 2007, he won the “Forum de Alta Dirección” Golden Master. The 4th of October 2011, he was awarded as the Best Business Leader 2011 by "El Economista".

October, 2011