The insurer debuts as a sponsor of the Sports Medicine Award that the APDM will present to Dr. Leyes at its gala on January 27
The general director of Iberia will collect the award for the tenth anniversary of the 15K MetLife Madrid Activa
MADRID, 23 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The vice president for Southern Europe and general director of MetLife in Iberia, Óscar Herencia, highlighted the benefits that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bring in the coming years, although he stated that the American insurer will put “ethics above” and They will “never” abandon the human factor.
On his thirtieth anniversary in a company that he joined in 1995 in the commercial channel, Óscar Herencia, 57, celebrated that MetLife debuted as a sponsor of the Sports Medicine Award that the Madrid Sports Press Association (APDM) will present to Dr. Manuel Leyes, head of the Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery service at the Olympia Quirónsalud medical center, at his gala this Monday at El Beatriz Madrid Auditorium.
“Sports Traumatology seems incredible to me because of the merit of athletes who have suffered serious injuries like Carvajal or Carolina Marín in the Games, and they give their one hundred percent again. If I had been a doctor I would have been a sports traumatologist, and, from the perspective of sponsoring the award, MetLife likes to be close to people who care about health and well-being,” he said in an interview with the APDM Awards press office.
To Herencia, a “sports fan” who couldn’t say no to supporting the 15K MetLife Madrid Activa, which will celebrate its tenth edition on March 16, when the two-time champion of the marathon world and Princess of Asturias Sports Award Abel Antón, is especially excited to collect the APDM award for the MetLife anniversary.
“When we started I told the Marketing people that if we got involved it had to be with a vocation for continuity. And it’s been ten years now. We have passed the pandemic, we have improved and we have been lucky that the race is known as the MetLife. Although We must have done something right to make it like this. Today I think it is the only one that is known by the name of the sponsor,” he celebrated.
Likewise, the general director of MetLife in Spain and Portugal, a popular runner who trusts that his application will reach (currently totaling 18,736) 20,000 kilometers in August of this year since he began wearing sneakers regularly on September 1 2014, highlighted that the sports press “has been very involved” with the test since the first edition, and stressed that its “real reason for being” is to help in research to combat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
A T-SHIRT THAT EVOKES PARIS 2024
With the color pink, MetLife organizers “surprised” the 2024 jersey after completing the range of the company’s ‘customer promise’ shades (blue, green, orange and pink), and the aim is to repeat them , but in 2025 they will make an exception for the tenth anniversary.
“We have gone out of that range to use a color that attracts more attention, similar to and reminiscent of the medals of the Paris 2024 Games,” he noted without wanting to give more details that will be offered at the official presentation of the race co-organized by G2O Publisport and Sport Life Ibérica on February 24.
The desire to recover passage through Puerta del Sol and the Royal Palace will be an ambition postponed to future years. “But, even so, the route seems spectacular to me: Neptune, Cybele, Genoa… There are very few races in Madrid that pass through so many emblematic and representative places of the capital. For Abel (Antón) all the races are easy, but runners find the routes challenging,” he warned.
“BEING FROM ATLETI PRINTS CHARACTER”
In 2024, MetLife turned 55 in Spain and exceeded 2 million customers despite the “challenging” environment, according to Herencia, with years of very high inflation, interest volatility and political and economic instability.
“Even so, we continue to be a reference in EMEA and an example in many sales and distribution techniques such as telephone and banking. In March we will announce that we are entering a new strategic period and we are going to focus on finishing the entire transformation part and accelerating the growth The year 2024 has been good and I have very high expectations for 2025: growth between 5 and 7 percent consolidated until 2027, and between 5 and 10 percent linear profits. every year,” he summarized.
In his opinion, the values of sport and leadership “are quite similar.” “At MetLife we encourage teamwork, collaboration, resilience, being ambitious, not giving up and supporting each other. Being an Atleti helps me endure suffering, that gives character and is a different way of living life “he joked.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking is here “to stay” and accelerated and caused a “semi-revolution” in the digitalization process of companies, as well as a greater appreciation of the balance between personal and work life.
“But we have incorporated everything into the old normal. At MetLife we have a philosophy that says: ‘Technology is instrumental.’ zero added value’ like changing your address or checking account. But we are never going to abandon the human side. AI has enormous possibilities that must be taken advantage of, but we cannot break people’s rights. We cannot let AI take over. decisions by itself without human intervention. a risk that we run because ethics has to be far above AI,” he summarized.
Globally, the insurer is proud to have invested more than 38 million euros in ‘green policies’ since 2020, planting 1.6 million trees and aiming to achieve more than 800,000 hours of volunteering by 2030. At the local level, as part of the sustainability strategy, it carries out initiatives such as waste collection and reforestation of the Jarama basin to achieve its objectives “without compromising” those of future generations.
Until then, Herencia dreams of seeing Spain play the final of the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States at MetLife Stadium in New York, and remembers how unforgettable it was to see the legendary Rolling Stones band perform in that same New York scene. “That will mark my entire life,” projected Herencia, who a couple of years ago tried to win the marathon medal in the city of skyscrapers, the one that never rests, but an injury kept him from his goal.
“I have to run one more marathon in my life and I hope it is the one in New York,” said the manager, holding onto a giant tennis ball with the motto ‘Let’s go’. The famous ‘war cry’ alludes to the ‘Nadal project’, named after the company’s admiration for the recently retired Balearic tennis player, who presides over the meeting room on the sixth floor of the MetLife headquarters. You reach it after consuming 18 kilocalories (as it says on the last step) if you ascend the staircase. One more example of the ‘Herencia seal’ in the company that will be recognized next Monday by the Madrid sports press.