Dramatic changes – and almost expected – in the board of directors at Inditex. Pablo Isla will cede the presidency to Marta Ortega as of March 31, 2022, according to a relevant event sent to the CNMV. The textile also changes the CEO. With this, the Galician firm culminates the generational change process that began in 2011 with the replacement of Amancio Ortega in the presidency of Inditex. Inditex shares cut up to 5% after these changes.
Isla leaves the presidency of Inditex in an agreed manner with Ortega, the company’s founder and main shareholder, in an operation that has been in the works for months, even before the summer. According to the sources consulted by the EconomistIt would have been Isla himself who conveyed to Ortega his intention to leave his post, agreeing between the two of them on the transition. It was months ago when it was decided that Marta Ortega would assume the non-executive presidency and last March Óscar García Maceiras was signed, a state attorney like Isla, and since next April CEO.
Carlos Crespo -current CEO- gives the witness Óscar García Maceiras, who until now was secretary general. Unlike the more immediate past, García Maceiras will have executive functions. Crespo, for his part, is now the general director of Operations, Sustainable Transformation and Digital. Jose Arnau Sierra he remains as vice president of the board of directors.
Marta Ortega Pérez has developed her activity in different areas of the group that her father founded in 1963 over the last 15 years and, in particular, has directed the reinforcement of Zara’s brand image and fashion proposal, an area that she will continue to supervise. Under his leadership, recalls the company, campaigns have been carried out with renowned creatives in the sector such as Steven Meisel, Fabien Baron, Karl Inditex, SA
“We are enormously grateful to Pablo Isla for his extraordinary work and dedication during all these years,” says Marta Ortega, who adds “I would like to highlight his immense contribution, not only to our group but also to the fashion industry in general.”
“I have always said that I would dedicate my life to developing the legacy of my parents, looking to the future but learning from the past”
“I have lived this company since my childhood and I have learned from all the great professionals I have worked with during the last 15 years. I have always said that I would dedicate my life to developing the legacy of my parents, looking to the future but learning from the past and at the service of the company, our shareholders and our clients, in the place where it is considered that I am most needed “, continues Ortega. “I feel deeply honored and committed by the trust that has been placed in me and greatly excited about the future that we are all going to undertake.”
For some time, the market was already discounting these changes. In fact, Marta herself was already launching in the summer in a report with The Wall Street Journal a premonitory message. “I will always be where the company (Inditex) needs me the most,” he said. At the same time and in the same text, Isla advanced that the role of Amancio’s youngest daughter would be more important during the next decade as the group focused on sustainability.
Óscar García Maceiras, for his part, joined the group in March 2021 as General Secretary and Secretary of the Board. With experience in corporate and team management, he has led transformation projects in his 20 years of professional activity both in the public sector, as a State Attorney, and in the private sector in companies such as Banco Pastor, Banco Popular, Sareb or Banco Santander .
“I assume with great responsibility and enthusiasm the new functions entrusted to me, with the tranquility of having a great human team, full of youth, experience and talent in all the fields and countries in which we are present, of which it is a good example the steering committee that we have appointed “, affirms García Maceiras.
Finally, Pablo Isla He is leaving the group he has led for 17 years, first as Vice President and CEO since 2005 and, as of 2011, as President. Among its achievements is multiplying the capitalization of Inditex by seven.
As for the changes, the manager assures that it is the “optimal” moment to address the transition in the replacement in the presidency of the group. “These four months I will be focused on making this transition a reality, on culminating it, which for me is something absolutely decisive and very important, for the company and for all the people who are part of it. And then, we’ll see, for now I’ll to be totally focused on making this transition a reality, “he says.
Regarding her professional future, Isla has not released a pledge. “I will be focused on making the transition, which represents the culmination of my commitment to Inditex and to Amancio Ortega,” said the still president of the group, who also stressed that the company is a company “much more of equipment than of individual persons “. “I have full confidence in Inditex for the future and, consequently, full confidence in the evolution of the share price for the future,” he said.
According to the Corporate Governance report, the departure from Isla would grant him the right to receive a gross compensation of two annuities based on his fixed remuneration, “in the event that his contracts are terminated by the unilateral will of the company as well as the resignation of the executive president or CEO “.
In the remuneration report of the Board of Directors for 2020, it appears that Isla’s fixed remuneration amounted to 3.25 million, over the 6.2 million it received in total. This does not mean in any case that the manager receives these amounts, since it could be an agreed exit.
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