Telefónica appoints César Mascaraque as director to replace Javier de Paz

Telefónica restructures its corporate governance in the run-up to its new strategic plan. The company chaired by Marc Murtra has agreed to the departure of Javier de Paz from the board of directorswhere he took his seat 18 years ago. The body met this Wednesday to, among other issues, “accept the voluntary resignation presented, for professional reasons and in order to perform executive functions in the group by Javier de Paz in his position as director of Telefónica” as La Vanguardia has advanced and the company has confirmed to the National Securities and Market Commission (CNMV) at midday.

In the same statement, Telefónica confirms the appointment of Cesar Mascaraque, current director of the Brazilian subsidiary, as substitute to fill the vacancy on the council. Among the decisions approved this Wednesday is also the appointment of Ana María Sala Andrés as president of the Sustainability and Regulation Commission of Telefónica, a position held until now by De Paz. As a consequence, Telefónica’s board goes from eight to nine directors with the independent label, which represents 60% of its total composition.

Javier de Paz He joined the board of the multinational in 2007 when the president of the teleco was César Alierta, and was general secretary of the Socialist Youth and member of the PSOE executive (1984-1993). Now, from the ‘teleco’ they assure that the historic director will go on to perform executive functions in the group, as deputy director to president Marc Murtra, and as responsible for the infrastructure, real estate assets and corporate social responsibility businesses, which will be compatible with the non-executive presidency of Movistar Pluswhich he accessed last May. For his part, Guillermo Ansaldo, responsible for the infrastructure area to date, will remain in the group supporting the transition and as an advisor for the infrastructure area.

Mascaraque, for his part, has an extensive professional career of more than 25 years as an entrepreneur and businessman in the technology sector on an international scale. He is an industrial engineer from the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers of Barcelona and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School, and is currently an independent director of the board of directors of Telefônica Brasil.

Mascaraque founded Finexia Ltd in the United Kingdom, an online financing platform for SMEs. After its sale in 2003, he joined Google as head of business development for Southern Europe and emerging markets. In 2008 he joined IAC Search & Media as general director of its European operations. In 2012 he founded BPM Marketing, specialized in the development and commercialization of artificial intelligence tools for digital marketing. Throughout his professional career, he has been non-executive chairman of Media Response in Spain and Brazil, member of the advisory board of Seaya Ventures in Spain and member of the board of MedicAnimal and Geocast in the United Kingdom.