Ángel Simón, a financial engineer

Ángel Simón will always be able to add to his resume that he was the CEO of the holding company of La Caixa holding companies that implemented the return of the Palma de Mallorca headquarters to Barcelona seven years later. It was last March when the company and the La Caixa Foundation returned. He was also the executive who implemented the most profound management change at the investment company since it went public in 2007, led by Reynés.

Ángel Simón (Manresa, 1957) was president of Agbar and vice president of Veolia for Spain, Portugal, and Latin America before becoming CEO of Criteria. He has dedicated the last 30 years of his professional life—before taking the reins of Criteria—to the water sector, since joining Agbar in 1995. He is from Manresa, like Fainé, although they are from different generations. He trained as a civil engineer from the University of Barcelona (UPC). He began his professional career holding technical and management positions in companies and public administrations. He led several projects related to pre-Olympic works in Barcelona, ​​and in 1989, the then mayor, Pasqual Maragall, appointed him manager of the Metropolitan Area, a position he held until joining Agbar, first as representative in Portugal and then in charge of Chile.

The executive, who had been linked to the water business for 30 years, returned Criteria's headquarters to Barcelona.

After his international career, in 2002 he was appointed CEO of Agbar, and in 2006 he led the friendly takeover bid for the British company Bristol Water, which marked its entry into the United Kingdom. In 2013, Simón was appointed Deputy CEO of Suez Environment, the company's industrial partner, and later Executive Vice President of the Suez group, when it took full control of Agbar, and La Caixa became a shareholder. Following the takeover bid launched by Veolia, in 2022 he became Vice President for Iberia and Latin America of the French group. As an executive, he has stood out for his advocacy of environmental sustainability and the efficient use of water.

In one of his last public appearances as CEO of Criteria at the conference organized by the Spanish Confederation of Managers and Executives (CEDE), which is also chaired by Isidro Fainé, he advocated for the company to participate in defense sector companies but not in arms manufacturers. He did so based on the recommendations of the Letta and Draghi reports on the need to invest in defense activities, which include cybersecurity. He also noted that there are many companies in this field also related to technology.

In that talk, he defended the long-term investment strategy despite the current tariff crisis caused by Donald Trump's policies. He also took time to call on other Spanish investment companies to support Criteria as shareholders in strategic companies. However, he did not mention Naturgy, where the process of finding a partner is proving longer than expected. Regarding Simón's management of his subsidiary, Naturgy, he emphasized that he ruled out the business separation project known as Geminis.

Simón has had a very direct management role over his investments, as evidenced by the fact that he attended the CaixaBank shareholders' meeting in Valencia this year.