EFE.- Ten years, 8 months and 12 days later, Inditex will begin a new stage on April 1 with the departure as executive president of Pablo Isla, the state attorney with the soul of a businessman who has consolidated the textile giant as a benchmark in distribution in fashion on a global scale.
Recently elected “counselor of the decade” by the magazine Forbes Spain, Isla (Madrid, 1964) began his career at Inditex in the spring of 2005, at the age of 41, to lead the group in its attempt to rejuvenate its management and face its ambitious growth plans.
Graduated in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid and a state lawyer, his first known destination, between 1989 and 1991, was the legal services of the Ministry of Transport, Tourism and Communications, then with the socialist José Barrionuevo at the helm.
Already at the beginning of the 90s he joined the General Directorate of the State Legal Service and was a Spanish delegate to the United Nations Commission for the Unification of International Commercial Law, an experience that contributed to his global perspective.
Shortly after, in 1992, he began his career in the financial field after obtaining his leave of absence as a civil servant.
His landing at Banco Popular hardened him in the business world, not in vain during his time at the entity he was a director of various institutions such as Banco de Castilla, Banco Popular Comercial, Popular Rabobank, Eurovida, Eurocorredores, Europensiones and Banco Popular Hipotecario .
After returning for two years to the Public Administration, where he was appointed General Director of State Assets in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in 1998 Isla rejoined the historic Spanish bank, this time as Secretary General.
Read: Marta Ortega will be the new president of Inditex after the resignation of Pablo Isla
Altadis and its balance to Inditex
His resume and professional experience, together with the freshness of his youth, led the Madrilenian to Altadis, a company resulting from the merger between Tabacalera and Seita, of which he was appointed chairman of the Board of Directors and co-chairman, replacing César Alierta, who started his journey at Telefónica.
That same day, July 31, 2000, he also assumed the presidency of Logista, the distribution subsidiary of the tobacco company.
His last name was already resounding in the markets when in 2005 a talent scout included him in a shortlist of candidates to become the chief executive of Inditex.
It was Zara’s own founder, Amancio Ortega, who opted for Isla, who began a new life with his family in Galicia.
Among his qualities, Inditex explained when proposing him as CEO, was not only his career but also “his proven management skills in an international business environment.”
Isla’s immersion in the atmosphere of Arteixo earned him the trust of the patriarch of the textile group, who appointed him president in 2011.
The ‘best counselor of the decade’
Despite the successes achieved as the patron of the main listed company of the Ibex 35 for market capitalization purposes, Isla shies away from personalism, from merits, and attributes the company’s milestones to the strength of the human team that makes up Inditex.
This honesty has earned him the recognition of specialized media and organizations, which in all these years have positioned him as an example of a director and executive to follow.
“I think the work we have done together is fantastic,” Isla celebrated after his departure was made public, a change of managers -but not of management- that had been for a long time “with discretion, like everything else at Inditex.”
Starting next fiscal year, the group will have Marta Ortega as president, although without executive powers, a change that has surprised the market, which has reacted to the news with sales.
Isla leaves grateful to his employees, to the Council, but “especially to Amancio”, as he himself has publicly admitted, and that is that his (foreseeable) end in the presidency “represents the culmination of the commitment” with Ortega.
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