DCH – International Organization of Human Capital Executives, in collaboration with the Círculo CFOs and IESE Business School, held its Annual Meeting: Dialogue between CEOs, CHROs and CFOs 2024 at the headquarters of Banco Santander in Madrid. This outstanding meeting brought together the most relevant leaders of Human Resources, Finance and CEO’s of the country, with the aim of promoting the exchange of ideas and experiences on the reality and future of organizations. A very special day in which also took place the award ceremony of the X DCH CEO Award for Excellence in People Management, an award given by DCH, which recognizes this year 2024 to Cristina Burzako CEO of Movistar Plus +, for her outstanding work as a business leader in people management. This initiative, which runs in parallel in all the countries where DCH is active, is now in its ninth edition in Spain. The day, which included the participation of Stephanie Zweifel, Head of Growth Marketing Southern Europe Africa Regions at AON, as master of ceremonies, began with an institutional welcome by Juan Carlos Pérez Espinosa, President of DCH Global, together with María Coello de Portugal, Deputy Director General of IESE, and Raquel Graciano Navarro, Head of HR at Santander Spain.

Juan Carlos Pérez Espinosa then announced the incorporation of DCH as a Strategic Partner of the World Business Forum Madrid 2024 and invited Pedro Hernanz, General Director of WOBI, to present this collaboration. This significant milestone represents a key link to deliver unprecedented expertise in human capital management. Find out more about the World Business Forum .

Corporate purpose: essential lever for sustainability and business competitiveness

After the Institutional Welcome, Álvaro Lleo, Director of the Master in Managing People in Organizations/Affiliated Research Scientist at Shine-Harvard University of Navarra, presented the second edition of the “Barometer on the implementation of Corporate Purpose in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America”. During his speech, he stressed that in companies it is not enough to have a purpose; it is necessary to live it and activate it so that it has an impact on the organization’s day-to-day operations. Defining a purpose in an organization is not enough; it is essential to activate it so that it influences the day-to-day. The real challenge is to live that purpose and evaluate its impact on corporate sustainability through Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) aspects. For all these reasons, the Purpose Strenght Project® of the School of Economics of the University of Navarra and IESE Business School, in collaboration with DCH, launched this research to analyze how companies formulate and activate their purpose, and how its impact evolves year after year. The objective is to foster a dialogue between academics and managers on how best to implement and maximize the benefits of corporate purpose.

Board Members Dialogue: Talent Management and Sustainability

This was followed by the participation of Gema Monedero, Partner Director Spain and LATAM Solutions at Ackermann International; Inés Juste, President of Grupo Juste, Vice-President of the CEOE Foundation and Independent Director of Renta4 and Ecoener; and Antonio Oporto del Olmo, Secretary General of the Círculo de Empresarios and Member of the Board of Directors of Talgo SA. During the conversation, they explored key topics for organizational sustainability, such as talent strategy, succession planning and strategic relationships between the CEO, the Chief People Officer and the Board of Directors. All three emphasized that it would be desirable to have access to training courses where the sometimes complex duties of this job would be made known.

Top HR Managers Spain 2024

Another key moment was the presentation of lTop 10 HR Managers Spain, which highlights leaders in people management who use innovation, technology, creativity and culture to reimagine, shape and reinvent the HR industry. The awardees were:

• Carmen Muñoz, Repsol’s General Manager of People and Organization
• Álvaro Vázquez, Chief People Officer of Securitas Direct
• Yolanda Menal, Global Chief People Officer at Cellnex Telecom
• Felipe de Almeida Ferreira, Head HR for EMEA & Asia Pacific at Latam Airlines
• Monica Zai, Heineken’s People Director
• Palmira García Antón, Director of Talent, Culture and Leadership (Transition)
• Virginia Garrido Martín Country People & Culture Manager at IKEA Spain (only mention because she is not attending the event)
• Fernando Cordova Moreno, Global Director Talent & Culture for Adolfo Dominguez
• Lucia Jaquotot, EY Talent Manager
• Ana Doval, Chief People Officer at Amadeus

The day resumed after the networking and coffee break with the intervention of Juan Carlos Perez Espinosa, who announced the collaboration between DCH and WAH to celebrate the DCH Fest on its 10th anniversary. Next, Miguel Depáramo, CEO of WAH, joined in to explain the origin and creation of the idea of WAH, which is none other than to bring together classical, flamenco, rock and pop music, among others, in the same event, as well as other recreational services such as gastronomy. In this way, they found a solution to offer services to both the general public and companies.

Dialogue between CHROs and CFOs

The day continued with a second dialogue between CHROs and CFOs moderated by Laura Gámiz, Sales Manager at Payhawk. Participants in this dialogue included: Javier Uría, CFO of Mediaset España; Fernando López Gil, People Lead // Agile Pod Lead, Mondelez International; Miguel Ángel Orgaz, CFO Holdings & Head of Corporate HR Spain, Arcelormittal-Minería; and Joaquín Hormaechea, Director of People and Organization in Corporate Areas, Repsol. The speakers exchanged valuable ideas and experiences on the current reality and the future of organizations. Synergies were created between the different key roles in business management and common expectations were shared. The key for CHROs and CFOs to have a good synergy was highlighted, which is to practice empathy to know the needs of the partner.

X DCH CEO Award for Excellence in People Management

The event reached its climax with the presentation of the X DCH CEO Award for Excellence in People Management, which recognized Cristina Burzako, CEO of Movistar Plus +. This award annually recognizes a CEO or Managing Director who has distinguished himself/herself for his/her work in people management. This initiative, which runs in parallel in all the countries where DCH is active, is now in its ninth edition in Spain. The process of choosing the award winner is carried out by a vote of DCH members, active human capital managers, from the candidates proposed by the organization’s Board of Directors.

The award winner participated in an exclusive dialogue with Marcelino Abad, Editor-in-Chief of Capital Humano Magazine; Verónica del Río San Millán, Director of Observatorio de Recursos Humanos and Francisco García Cabello, Founder and CEO of Foro Recursos Humanos. In his speech he highlighted his reflection on failure, where Burzako commented that “to fail is to do something outside your values, which is why we must always keep them in mind and not leave them aside. Everything else I would define as mistakes and learning, but not failures”.

With this award, Cristina Burzako joins the list of CEOs who have received this award in previous editions:

• I DCH CEO Award: Jaume Guardiola. Chief Executive Officer of Banco Sabadell
• II CEO DCH Award: Rosa García. President of Siemens
• III DCH CEO Award: Rafael Villaseca. Chairman of Gas Natural Fenosa
• IV DCH CEO Award: Silvio González. CEO of Atresmedia
• V DCH CEO Award: Pilar López. CEO of Microsoft
• VI CEO DCH Award: Fuencisla Clemares. General Manager of Google
• VII DCH CEO Award: Wayne Griffiths, CEO of Seat and Cupra
• VIII DCH CEO Award: Dr. Juan Abarca Cidón, Chairman of HM Hospitales
• IX DCH CEO Award: Andrés Romero, CEO of Santalucía