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Ignacio Galán, Executive Chairman of Iberdrola, has been awarded the José Echegaray Prize by the business daily elEconomista. In this fifth edition, the newspaper wanted to honour the excellent career and the figure of the Spanish businessman, who has been at the head of the energy group for two decades.

Previous winners are the current governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, the vice-president of the European Central Bank, Luis de Guindos, the chairman of the European Banking Authority, José Manuel Campa, and the former chairman of Telefónica, César Alierta.

At the award ceremony, the Executive Chairman of Iberdrola stressed that a "social market economy open to the world is the best way to promote a solid industrial and business fabric in our country to benefit the triangle formed by employees, shareholders and the society we serve. The core of all economic activity is people, and that is why any business project must be based on values such as ethics, honesty, loyalty and team spirit. And also on the search for competitiveness, innovation and efficiency".

During his speech, the Executive Chairman wished to highlight the work of the employees who make up Iberdrola. "Thanks to the work of the thousands of men and women who make up Iberdrola, in these more than two decades we have managed to multiply our size sixfold to become today the leading company by weight in the Ibex, the largest electricity company in Europe and the second largest in the world by market capitalisation," said the Executive Chairman.

He also highlighted the company's strong investment commitment to society. "In the last 20 years we have generated activity and employment through investments of close to €150 billion. Investments with which we have sought to promote the internationalisation of our economy," he said.

The Executive Chairman recalled that the company's international growth has gone hand in hand with hundreds of Spanish companies that have accompanied and grown at the pace of our global expansion. "For me it is a source of pride that the €17 billion that we spent last year on purchases served to maintain 400,000 jobs in our suppliers around the world, almost 90,000 of them in Spain. All this has made Iberdrola a large company in terms of size and global presence, but above all in terms of its commitment to society", said the Executive Chairman.

The award ceremony was attended by the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, who introduced Galán and presented him with a trophy, together with the president of Ecoprensa, Gregorio Peña.