António Horta-Osório joins Governing Body
London Business School is pleased to announce that Mr António Horta-Osório, Chief Executive of Santander UK plc, has accepted an invitation to join the Governing Body.
Santander and Mr Horta-Osório have a strong relationship with the School. In 2008, he was a guest of the School to present on retail banking and earlier that year he officially launched the Santander Scholarships Programme, generously supporting scholarships for both the MBA and MiF students.
António Horta-Osório has worked for the Santander Group since 1993 and has been Chief Executive of Santander’s UK operations since 2006. Prior to this, António was a non-executive director Abbey National plc, the bank Santander purchased in 2004. António is an Executive Vice President of Grupo Santander and a member of its Management Committee. He is also the Chairman of Santander Totta in Portugal, where he was CEO from 1999-2006. Prior to this he served as CEO of Banco Santander Brazil.
He commenced his career with CitiBank Portugal where he was Head of Capital Markets. At the same time, he was an assistant professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa. He then worked for Goldman Sachs in New York and London, focusing on corporate finance activities in Portugal.
He is a graduate in Management and Business Administration from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and has an MBA from INSEAD and an AMP from Harvard Business School. In June 2009 he was appointed to the Court of Directors of The Bank of England.
Sir John Ritblat, Chairman of the Governing Body, commented: “António is a particularly welcome addition to our international representation and, as a leading figure in the banking world, I know his contribution to our affairs will be invaluable and I am delighted he is joining our Governing Body.”
António Horta-Osório said: “London Business School was the first international school I attended during my graduate programme when I joined Citibank as a trainee. I am impressed with the growth and results the school has achieved so far and delighted to be joining the Governing Body.”