César Alierta, a teacher and friend who was an extraordinary person, has died. When I was serving two years in prison for promoting the Socialist Party, I received a call from Juan Lato, the CEO of Banco Urquijo (a large industrial bank at the time). He wanted me to take him to his office. Our father Luis Solana San Martín had already served in that group. The number one offer that extraordinary bank made to me was to streamline the wealth management industry.
Earlier, he sent me to London for a year and Paris for six months to train me on these topics. With a slight difference in dates, the Alierda family sent their son Cesar to study the same subject, but in America. As life often has its logic, after a year Banco Urquijo brought together all of us who studied these techniques to start an investment consulting business.
The first signature was mine and I became the head of a select group of stock market technologists. Among these new employees of the bank are César Alierta; And the memory of Zabala, Aznar, Ruiz de Asín, Pérez Pita, Pérez Llorca and half a dozen other young professionals does not wake them up today. We told clients what to invest in and what modernity meant in a Spain that was ending Franco's reign.
Our successes were so significant that one day we thought of leaving the bank and starting our own company. Aznar, Zabala, Pérez Llorca and I opened an office in Madrid at 8th Castellana, César gathered his friends and started a large company in the same field that brought him fame and good results.
But politics fell into the hands of democracy, and we all became closer to action, if not heroes. While some of us became parliamentarians or ministers, Caesar continued his business activities while considering the politics of Zaragoza. During one of the PP governments, César became president of Tabacalera. There he must have followed closely, as he led mergers, openings to the world, competition, new names and brands. But attention is not enough to understand what the man contributed. Alierta's future began to take shape.
At one point, Telefónica began to worry the government about the chaotic management of José María Aznar's “desk partner.” And he decided to name César Alierta as president [en sustitución de Juan Villalonga]. That Telefonica, to which he came to avoid misfortunes, has long since begun its modernization in the hands of his friend Luis Solana (that is, the signatory of this text): opening to the world, constantly looking for new fields to invest.
César Alierta didn't think much of it and introduced Telefónica as a multinational corporation to far-flung corners.
And the deal? How was the deal with this global entrepreneur? He is someone who has thought about many things, but after he has made a decision, it is better not to confront him. These decisions also weighed on Spanish economic life, where he became a protagonist in very different scenarios.
Victory after victory, one day his heart declared tired and forgotten historical rhythms. Therefore, he had no more sensible idea than to propose his CEO, José María Alvarez-Pallet, to replace him: that would guarantee continuity.
That's not exactly the case. Political and financial conditions started to become more complicated and negative. Great inventions emerged that changed the entire landscape of the telecommunication industry.
But Alierda's heart did not find such great changes of direction as in his old days.
A brilliant team now commands the ship: he himself chose it. Friends, think of him and follow the unwritten path again: it is possible with him and possible without him. But the model is still yours.
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