It was an open secret that the new president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, was going to do without Chema Alonso as soon as possible. Today, after Alonso has been the visible face in the presentations of the operator’s novelties during the Mobile World Congress, he says goodbye to a multinational with which he has been working in different positions since 2013. Currently, he held the position of Chief Digital Officer, a position that, from today, happens to occupy an old acquaintance of the company: Sebas Muriel.
A few hours after the end of the latest edition of the MWC, Telefónica has communicated the first relevant changes in its organization chart. Most of the positions that have already been renewed were shuffled in the main pools, with a lot of executive, as well as Murtra, from Indra. Without a doubt, one of the most surprising is the return of Sebas Muriel to the organization chart of the Telco. Muriel landed in the operator after the total purchase of Tuenti by Telefónica in 2013. Until February 2020 he held the position of CEO in the missing social network within the Telefónica scheme and starting at that time he went on to perform the position of director of Customer Experience where he remained two years and became the CEO of Groupm, the largest media purchase agency in the world. Muriel was also general director of Red.es (2006-2011), replacing in office, precisely the person who has now repeated for Telefónica: Marc Murtra.
Marc Murtra trusts Sebas Muriel, who replaced him in 2006 to the front of Red.es, to be the new CDO of Telefónica to the detriment of Chema Alonso
Emilio Gayo, new CEO
In the rest of the appointments released today by Telefónica there are no surprises. Thus, Emilio Gayo, as expected, leaves the presidency of Telefónica España to become the new CEO of the operator replacing Ángel Vilá. Gayo has been in Telefónica since 2004 where he has held the positions of General Director of International Operations in Telefónica Móviles; Director of Business Development, Strategy and Regulation in Telefónica Latam; Director of Gran Público de Telefónica España and, since 2018, president of Telefónica España.
Under the dependence of the new CEO, the businesses of Spain, Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom are maintained, as well as the B2B, Telefónica Tech, Telefónica Infra and Ctio units. Additionally, the Hispam business unit will report to the CEO, thus consolidating under its responsibility the management of all geographies.
The position that Gayo leaves in Telefónica Spain will be occupied by Borja Ochoa. This manager was until now General Director of Defense and Security in Indra, having also occupied the General Directorate of the Subsidiary of Indra, Minsait and Minsait Payments. As Telefónica reports in a statement, Ochoa has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Lincoln, MBA for ESAune and Postgraduate in E-Commerce and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley. It has more than 18 years of experience in business, technology and innovation transformation processes, with special focus on the financial area, and stands out for its ability to climb business and generate value.
Another relevant change occurs in Telefonica Tech. In this case Sofia Collado will assume the maximum responsibility of the division. Like Marc Murtra, Collado also comes from Indra where he was responsible for directing the company’s human resources. The new CEO of the technology division, replaces a very technological profile such as José Cerdán always closely related to the ICT world and carried in Telefónica since the operator acquired Acens in 2010.
Javier de Paz, new president of Movistar+
The other change that was given for discounted is the landing in the presidency of Movistar+ of the former member of the PSOE executive, Javier de Paz. In his case, he replaces Sergio Oslé. It will be Daniel Domenjó who assumes the position of CEO of Movistar+. Domenjó was to date CEO and co -founder of satisfaction Iberia.
In the Communication Department, Eva Fernández, until now Global Communication Director and signed by Álvarez-Pallete in 2019 from El Español where she served as CEO, has been replaced by Ana Porto, until now director of Communication of the Sixth and Deputy Director of Communication and RRPP of Atresmedia
