Universitat de Barcelona

Ricard Fornesa

Well-known in financial circles for the clarity, concision and confidence of his public speaking, Ricard Fornesa is president of the VidaCaixa Group, advisor for Abertis Infrastructures, employer's organization head and first vice-president of La Caixa Foundation, and also honorary president of La Caixa, Caixabank and the water service provider the Agbar Group. Currently on sabbatical leave from his office as a state lawyer, Fornesa describes himself as "practically an emissary" of the organizational model developed by La Caixa, of which he was president. He is also widely credited for the extraordinary recovery of the Agbar Group, having helped to stregthen the service provider through a series of strategic alliances and a shrewd approach to savings policy. In general terms, Fornesa considers himself as a defender of business stability but also believes in the need for development, proposing that good management practices can do more for the economy than cuts and that the value of new business initiatives cannot be determined by viability alone.