Santander announces Mexican Héctor Grisi as new president from 2023

Santander Bank announced, this Friday (17), the Mexican Héctor Blas Grisi Checa, 55, as the new global president of the company from January 2023. Grisi is currently the current president of Santander in Mexico and head of the region company’s North American

The Mexican will replace the executive José Antonio Álvarez, who joined the group in 2002 and, in 2015, became CEO. After the transition period, Álvarez will remain on the board of directors as non-executive vice president.

Grisi began his career at Santander in 2015, as president of the company in Mexico. In 2019, he became responsible for operations across North America, bringing huge profits to the company. In 2021, Santander US, from the United States, was responsible for the bank’s biggest profit in euros in the world, ahead of a post that belonged to Santander Brasil.

With the announcement, the Spanish bank’s shares rose 1%. Ana Botín, who remains Santander’s executive president, thanked Álvarez for his 20 years of work at the company and welcomed Grisi. “I have great confidence in Héctor. He has decades of experience and a deep knowledge of our markets and our lines of business”, says Ana.

Grisi also thanked Álvarez for the support he has received since the beginning of his career on the bench and said he is looking forward to working with the new team. “I have no doubt that we have the strategy, the business model and the talent to generate value and deploy our full potential.”

Grisi’s professional career began more than 35 years ago. Before working at Santander, he spent 18 years at Credit Suisse, where he also held senior positions, being responsible for operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. In his academic life, he studied in Mexico and Canada and holds a degree in finance from the Universidad Iberoamericana.

New president likes to run

Grisi is a former investment banker who loves to run. According to executives who have worked with him for years, the Mexican knows how to unite and motivate the team, defending his points of view. Among his main merits is the fact that the operation in the United States has become the bank’s most profitable.

“When we talk to him, it seems like he has all the time in the world, that you are the most important person,” economist Ángel Gurría, secretary general of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) told Reuters.

_{(With Reuters)}