Ángel Vilá, new CEO of Telefónica

José María Álvarez-Pallete redesigns the company's organizational scheme. Julio Linares will join the Boards of Telefónica Brazil and Telefónica Deutschland, while Luis Blasco, until now president of video in Spain, will leave the company.

The executive president of Telefónica, José María Álvarez-Pallete, has decided to redesign the company's organizational model to accelerate the pace of business growth, facilitate the implementation and achievement of new goals and objectives and promote the new values ​​that will govern corporate life in the coming years.

The Appointments, Remuneration and Good Governance Committee of Telefónica has approved, in its ordinary meeting held this Tuesday, to propose to the Board of Directors to be held this Wednesday, July 26, the appointment of Ángel Vilá Boix, until now Director of Strategy and Finance, as new CEO. To this end, it will be proposed to appoint Ángel Vilá as a director of Telefónica by co-option, as executive director, filling the vacancy resulting from the resignation of Julio Linares in said Governing Body.

Julio Linares will continue to be linked to the group and his next incorporation will be proposed to the Boards of Telefónica Brasil and Telefónica Deutschland. Likewise, he will continue to perform institutional representation duties for the company in various organizations.

The appointment of the new CEO of Telefónica consolidates the operating model introduced in 2014. Thus, the five operators (Spain, Brazil, Latin America, Germany and the United Kingdom), and the departments of Commercial Digital (Chief Commercial Digital Officer) and Global Resources (Chief Global Resources Officer) will report directly to the CEO.

In the new responsibilities scheme, Laura Abasolo will assume the direction of Finance and Control, reporting directly to the executive president of Telefónica, José María Álvarez-Pallete. This direction encompasses responsibilities for the areas of Finance, Tax, Financial Planning and Coordination, Consolidation and Accounting Policies, Control and Planning and Investor Relations. To date, Laura Abasolo was director of Planning, Accounting and Management Control and has been a member of the Executive Committee since March 2014.

Likewise, the Strategy and Corporate Development department is created, whose head will be Enrique Lloves – until now director of Corporate Development and Fonditel – who will join the company's Executive Committee.

In this way, the CEO of Telefónica will report directly to the CEO (Ángel Vilá), the general secretary of the Board (Ramiro Sánchez de Lerín), the chief data officer (José María Alonso), the Finance and Control departments (Laura Abasolo), Corporate Communication and Institutional Marketing (José Luis Gómez-Navarro), Public Affairs and Regulation (Carlos López Blanco), Strategy and Corporate Development (Enrique Lloves), chief of Staff (María García-Legaz) and Public Affairs of the Presidency ( Francisco de Bergia).

Departure of Luis Blasco

On the other hand, Enrique Blanco will add to his current responsibilities - Global Chief Technology Officer - the systems area, until now led by Phil Jordan (Global Chief Information Officer), who is leaving the company.

On the other hand, and with the aim of focusing all the efforts and resources destined for innovation in the same area, the integration of Telefónica Open Future in the Innovation area, led by Gonzalo Martín-Villa, will be proposed.

Finally, Luis Blasco, until now president of video in Spain, will leave the company.

Vilá Boix, linked to Telefónica since 1997

Ángel Vilá Boix began his career at Telefónica in 1997 as group controller, assuming the position of CFO of Telefónica Internacional in 1998. In 2000 he was appointed director of Corporate Development. In 2010, Vilá added to his duties the management of the group of Subsidiaries, made up of Atento, T -Gestiona and Telefónica SERVICIOS. In 2011 he was appointed Director of Finance and Corporate Development, later incorporating responsibilities for Fonditel and Corporate Strategy.

In his various positions, Ángel Vilá has participated in such significant operations as the acquisitions of O2, Brasilcel/Vivo, EPlus and GVT, as well as the IPO of Telefonica Deutschland, among others.

Antes de comenzar a trabajar en Telefónica, el Sr. Vilá había desarrollado su carrera profesional en Citigroup, McKinsey&Co, Ferrovial y Planeta.

Until now Ángel Vilá was a member of the Board of Directors of TEF Deutschland and Telefónica Brasil, as well as of the Board of Trustees of the Telefónica Foundation. Previously he belonged, among others, to the boards of BBVA, Telco SpA, Atento, Telefónica SERVICIOS, Digital +, Telefónica Czech Republic, Endemol, CTC Chile, Indra SSI, as well as the Advisory Panel of Macquarie MEIF.

In 2015 he received the Best CFO European Telecoms award from Institutional Investor. In 2013 and 2014 he was awarded by Thomson Reuters Extel as Best CFO in Spain, and in 2014 as Best CFO in the telecommunications sector in Europe.

Ángel Vilá is an Industrial Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and has an MBA from Columbia University (New York).

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