The Board of Directors of IBERDROLA agreed today to appoint Georgina Kessel Martinez as external independent director to fill the vacancy left by Victor de Urrutia Vallejo.

The Board expressed its gratitude to Victor de Urrutia Vallejo (Madrid, 1942) for services rendered since joining the Company as its youngest ever Board member, back in 1978, when he was 36 years old.  

The Group’s chairman, Ignacio Galan, commended Urrutia for his 35 years of continued presence at the Board. “Direct descendant of one of the founders of Hidroelectrica Iberica and Hidroelectrica Española, he has always carried out his responsibilities with enormous generosity, commitment and dedication”, said Galan.

Galan also praised the attitude of Victor Urrutia: “always open and constructive, representing the vision and values of real pioneers, signing-in new talent and large projects, and contributing to place IBERDROLA among the world’s leading electricity utilities”.  

The appointment of Georgina Kessel Martinez, the new co-opted director, will be submitted to the next Annual Shareholders’ Meeting for ratification.

Master in Economics by Mexico’s Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), where she has worked as a professor and researcher, and PhD in Economics from Columbia University (New York), Kessel has a broad experience in the energy sector.

Between December 2006 and January 2011, Kessel was Mexico’s Secretary of Energy, chairing the Board of Directors of PEMEX and the Governing Board of Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). She was also Managing Director of the National Bank for Public Works and Services (Banobras), a state owned development bank.

Appointed as the first chairwoman of Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), Georgina Kessel Martinez is also member of the World Economic Forum’s Energy Security Council and participates at the Sustainable Energy for All High-Level Group advising UN’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

With this appointment, IBERDROLA reinforces the international diversity of its Board of Directors to reflect the current reality of the Company, a multinational Group present in numerous countries, particularly in the United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Mexico and Spain, after the expansion undertaken over the last few years.

Increased women presence at the Board

With the appointment of Kessler, four women have now joined IBERDROLA’S Board of Directors, made up of 14 members.

Before Kessler, external independent directors Inés Macho Stadler (June 2006), Samantha Barber (July 2008) and María Helena Antolín Raybaud (March 2010) were co-opted to the Board of Directors. Thus, IBERDROLA becomes Spain’s blue chip index company with the largest number of women in its board, and among the leaders in this respect among world companies.

Also, the Board of Directors has reclassified Angel Acebes as external independent director.

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