The former CEO of Banc Sabadell and chairman of the Esade board of trustees, James Guardiolahas finally won the elections in the Circle of Economy, the first in 64 years in which two candidates have gone to the polls. The result has been 634 votes, 70.8%; against 243 of his opponent, 27.2%; the president of Trea Capital Partners and the Tanja Foundation, Rosa Canadas. In total, 895 votes have been validated, with a participation of 76.1% of the census. A total of 330 members have exercised the vote in person and there have been 565 representation delegations. In total there have been 11 blank votes and seven have been declared null.
In his first words as president-elect, Guardiola highlighted the participation and ‘fair play’ between candidates. In his opinion, the way the process has been developed demonstrates “how alive the institution is.” Both he and the outgoing president, Javier Faus, have thanked the work of the jurists Jaume Marfà and Eudald Vendrell and the Cercle team. He has also promised to meet with Cañadas and his candidacy.
One of the issues that has slowed down the count is the proxy votes, since it is necessary to check if the member has finally opted for the vote in person. The electoral table has been chaired by the former president of the Cercle, Salvador Germanywho has praised the way in which the process has been carried out, and integrated by Jordi Hereu Y Monica Ribéboth members of the outgoing board of directors, and Esther Seum Y Joan Torresmembers of the Cercle chosen by lottery before a notary.
The two candidates held a single debate, which took place last week and in which they discussed issues that set them apart, ranging from the Cercle’s ability to influence the need for greater foreign projection. Javier Faus, the outgoing president, got off to a rocky start by making changes without consulting previous presidents, as was tradition. One of his changes was to move the Annual Meeting, the event in which the Cercle brings together politicians, economists and businessmen from Sitges, where it had been held since 1997, to Barcelona. Faus has also welcomed the development of the elections and has recalled that the statutes that have allowed these elections were drawn up during the presidency of José Manuel Lara.
After the pandemic parenthesis, the two editions in the Catalan capital were attended by the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the President of Korea, Moon Jae In, in addition to King Felipe in the 2021 edition and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der They read, in this year’s. She also renewed 70% of the board and made it joint.
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Guardiola presents proposes a meeting of 21 members with the economist and director of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, Teresa Garcia-Mila and the publisher of Random House, Nuria Cabuti as vice presidents. The other members are Quiroga Road (notary); Carmina Ganyet (Colonial); Oriol Aspachs (CaixaBank); Marc Puig (President of the Puig Group); Miguel Trias Sagnier (Quatrecasas); Jordi Amat (writer and philologist); Maite Barrera (president of Barcelona Global); Mercè Conesa (Incasol); Jose Maria Lassalle (strategic consultant, writer and political analyst); Nuria Mas (IESE and director of the Bank of Spain); Alfonso Rodes (Chairman of Havas Media Group); Francesc Rubiralta (Celsa Group); Laura Urquizu (CEO and President of Red Points) and Xavier Vives (IESE). All of them, including Guardiola, are already part of the current board. In addition, it incorporates Clara Campas (Asabys Partners), Pol Morels (director of Cidob), Dani Aicart (Barcelona Municipal Services) and Rita Almela (entrepreneur, investor and expert in digital transformation, innovation and technology and founding partner of 101 Ventures).
Cañadas, for his part, proposed a board of 16 members with Sasha Michaud (Glovo); Gerard Garcia (Founder and CEO of Deale); Joan Francesc Baño (founding partner of Open House Games and mentor of ‘start-ups through Aticco Lab); Joseph Gomez Torres (Founder and CEO of Reby), Ramon Palou (founder of Onsecur); as well as Maria Rosa Fiol (Metal.lurgical Employer Union); Jorge Lasheras (former president of Yamaha in Spain and currently president of the Japan Business Circle; Marina Lopez Sanjurjo (director and corporate director of the Hotusa group); Rosa Nonell (PhD in Economics from the University of Barcleona (UB); Flat Martha (co-founder of Digital Origin); Xavier Prats (Teach for All Special Advisor); Stella Raventós-Calvo (president of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors); Joseph Soler (director general of the Institute of Financial Studies), Silvia Sorribas (Telam) and Rafael Vilasanjuan (IS Global and columnist for EL PERIÓDICO). Only Cañadas herself, Marta Plana and Rosa Nonell have been part of previous meetings of the Cercle.