César Alierta
César Alierta Izuel (born May 5, 1945) is a Spanish businessman, who was the chief executive officer and chairman of Telefónica S.A. from July 26, 2000, until replaced by José María Álvarez-Pallete in 2016. He guided the company through a significant Latin American expansion. Mr. Alierta earned a bachelor's degree in law at the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain) in 1967. Three years after his degree, he earned a master's degree in Business Administration at Columbia University in New York, United States. Career Mr. Alierta holds a Law degree from the University of Zaragoza and an MBA from Columbia Business School. 1970–85: Banco Urquijo (Financial Analyst) 1985–96: Beta Capital (Founder & President) 1996–99: Tabacalera (CEO) 1999–2000: Altadis (Co-chairman) 2000–Marz 2016: Telefónica (CEO & Chairman) Main highlights of his presidency at Telefónica In September 2005, he received the Global Spanish Entrepreneur award in New York, by the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce. This distinction is an acknowledgement for his job as president of Telefónica, leading the firm to entry into the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 index. In fact, Telefónica is the first Spanish company -and one of the very few in Europe - to be part of that index, made of the