Francisco
Román

Francisco is a Senior Lecturer in the Strategic Management Department at IESE where he teaches General Management and Strategy. He is Telecommunications Engineer by the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid and PDD by IESE.

Francisco Román started his professional career in Sainco in 1975 and in 1983 he joined Hewlett Packard, where he was named Director of the Telecommunications, Electronics, and Defense area. At the beginning of 1992 he was designated Managing Director of AirTouch International in Spain, one of the founders of Airtel Móvil S.A. Airtel obtained the first mobile license in the liberalization process of the Spanish Telecommunication with Francisco becoming Chief Operating and Technical Officer.  In May 1998, he joined Microsoft Ibérica as CEO. In July 2002 he joined Vodafone as COO, he then became CEO in February 2003 and Chairman and CEO in January 2008. Since October 2012 until the 1st of January 2019, he was Non-executive Chairman of Vodafone Spain, Chairman of Vodafone Spain Foundation and Trustee of Vodafone Foundation.

Currently, since January 2023, he chairs the neutral fiber operator Lyntia Networks. Also, from May 2015 to March 2023, he was the Chairman of March RS, owned by Banca March. At the same time, he is Teaming Foundation President, which uses technology to raise funds for social purposes.

Francisco Román is member of the Advisory Board of the Universidad Europea, the Professional Council of ESADE and the ETSIT Advisory Board (Polytechnic University Madrid). He is also part of the thinking tank Círculo de Empresarios Board of Directors, member of The Governing Council of APD and takes part in different Telecommunications sectoral associations. He was an independent member of the Board of NH Group from 2014 to 2017.

In the Social field he acts as a Trustee of Fundación CASER, and between June 2015 and June 2021, he chaired Fundación SERES, which brings together more than 150 companies to transform business reality to achieve a better society, and in which he continues as a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Good Governance Commission.

In the innovations and startups development field, he participates in Vitamina k and K Fund.