From technician at IBM to breaking the Franco-German tradition at Airbus

The stratospheric professional leap of a Spanish executive has marked the week. Amparo Moraleda will be appointed president of the aeronautical giant Airbus next October, thus breaking with the Franco-German tradition that until now pursued the highest office in the European consortium. Executive functions, however, will remain in the hands of the CEO, the Frenchman Guillaume Faury. On the other hand, continuity will continue in another company in the aeronautical sector: this week Maurici Lucena has been re-elected president of Aena for another four years, until 2030.

Amparo Moraleda

Future president of Airbus

The Spanish presence in Airbus began in 1971, when the Spanish company Construcciones Aeronáuticas, SA, better known by the acronym CASA, joined the consortium that the French and Germans – and indirectly the English – had formed in December 1969. Since then, this origin of the giant in the aerospace and military sector has marked the senior management with a Franco-German alternation in the presidency. However, from October onwards, Spain will make its mark for the first time in history: Amparo Moraleda (Madrid, 1964) will be appointed president of Airbus on a global scale.

Moraleda joined the European consortium in 2015 to represent the State (Spain has a small part of the share capital) on the board of directors as an independent director. However, she would occupy the position then held by Josep Piqué, who bet on her, with the paradox that the State, through SEPI, voted against it. The then Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, wanted Belén Romana, president of Sareb, the so-called bad bank, to occupy that seat.

More than ten years after landing at the aeronautical giant, Moraleda will strengthen her profile as one of the most influential and powerful executives. "Power is not given away, power must be conquered. This is where we have our biggest pending task: to truly have the desire and determination to conquer this power. But I don't know if we are willing to pay the price that this entails," Moraleda reflected this very week in statements to the magazine Telva.The Madrid executive trained as an industrial engineer at the private Comillas Pontifical University in 1987, and then completed a master's degree in business administration at the also private business school Iese. She began her professional career at IBM Spain at the age of 23 as a systems technician, and from then on she did not stop climbing positions until she became general manager of IBM for Spain and Portugal at the age of 36. She herself has defined part of this stage as "an intensive master's degree live and in person". She also highlighted the fact that she managed to bring the MareNostrum to Barcelona (in the early years, IBM was the main integrator): "We managed to bring the supercomputer to Spain. We went from having no supercomputing capacity to being the first unit in Europe," she stated in an interview with El País Semanal in 2005. "I did what I could to bring it to Spain with the help of institutions," she explained.

The executive left the IT and technology group two decades later because Iberdrola hired her as operations director for the international division. Her time at the electricity company, however, lasted only three years. Throughout her professional career, she has held positions on various boards of directors. Notable presences include CaixaBank (she was vice-president until last February) and Vodafone, and she has previously held positions at Solvay, Meliá Hotels, Corporación Financiera Alba, Alstom, and Faurecia, among other companies.

The move to Airbus comes amid a boom in defense, one of the company's main lines of business internationally, but also in Spain. In Spain, Airbus manufactures everything from the A400M military aircraft to key components for satellites used by the armed forces for their communications. "The Spanish government has always wanted Spaniards to be at the highest possible corporate level," indicates a source from the industrial sector. Javier Sánchez Segura, president of Airbus Spain since the end of 2024, was until now one of the most influential Spaniards within the group due to his position as operations director of Airbus Defence and Space.

"Moraleda's presence leading the Airbus board of directors fully benefits Spain", stated the president of the Aeronautical Council, Antonio Conde, in statements to the digital outlet La Voz de Cádiz. The Andalusian town hosts one of Airbus's plants in the State. Moraleda's appointment is seen as a possibility for an increase in workload, especially after the ordeal of the closure of the Puerto Real plant in 2021, which confined all production to a single center in the Bay of Cadiz.

Those who have worked with her highlight her "belief in globalization". For the moment, what she has already shown is a commitment to Europeanism: "Europe has great challenges ahead [...] It has outsourced energy to Russia, industry to China, defense to the United States, and also technology [...] It is time to take action", Moraleda stated to Telva.Maurici Lucena

12 years at the helm of Aena

There have also been movements at Aena, the Spanish airport operator. The company's general shareholders' meeting has re-elected Maurici Lucena (Barcelona, 1975) as president for another four years. In this way, Lucena begins his third term at Aena, where he arrived in 2018 with the change of government in Moncloa and, therefore, was sponsored by Pedro Sánchez – since the State owns 51% of Aena, the proposal for president presented to the board of directors is the one approved by majority.

With this new mandate, Lucena could accumulate 12 years at the head of the airport operator and become the executive who has piloted the company for the longest time. Lucena faces the challenge of materializing a historic investment plan – the third airport regulation document (DORA III) for the period 2027-2031 – which has a regulated investment of 9,991 million euros and also includes an increase in airport fees, which has opened a war with airlines, especially with the Irish Ryanair.

The other great challenge is that of the expansion of El Prat airport, which he firmly defends since it was put on the table despite the reluctance of a part of the population, as well as environmental organizations and even some parties due to the ecological impact.

Arturo Mac Dowell

President of AEFI

Director of Regulatory Affairs for AstraZenecaJaume Balaguer

President of Texfor

The general assembly of Texfor (Confederation of the Textile Industry) has approved the change of presidency of the organization. Jaume Balaguer, a member of the board of directors representing AITPA, assumes the presidency of the textile employers' association for the next 2 years, replacing José María Mestres, who is closing a six-year term at the head of the entity. The new board of directors will be led by Balaguer as president and Mireia Cazador as vice-president.

With this change, Texfor begins a new phase in a particularly demanding context for the textile industry, marked by regulatory pressure, global competition, rising costs, and the need to strengthen industrial capacity in Europe. At the assembly, Mestres and Balaguer shared the same concern: the need for companies to have a reasonable environment to be able to invest, adapt, and continue adding value.

Yésica Hernández Brichis

Director of Regulatory Affairs at AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca has strengthened its structure in Spain with two new appointments. Yésica Hernández-Brichis has taken on the role of medical director of biopharma and director of regulatory affairs for AstraZeneca Spain, and Ana Pérez Fernández has been appointed business director for the cardiovascular, renal and metabolism (CVRM) area. In this way, the company consolidates key areas for its development in the country and reaffirms its commitment to internal talent and female leadership within the organization, with the consequence of having achieved 75% female representation on the management committee.