Ana Botín


Ana Patricia Botín-Sanz de Sautuola O'Shea, DBE is a Spanish banker who has served as the executive chairman of Santander Group since 2014. She is the fourth generation of the Botín family to hold this role. Prior to this she was chief executive officer of Santander UK, a role she held from December 2010 until her assumption of the chairmanship.
In February 2013, she was ranked the third most powerful woman in the UK by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.

Early life

Botín is the daughter of Spanish banker Emilio Botín, who was the executive chairman of Spain's Grupo Santander, and Paloma O'Shea. She received her high school education at St Mary's School, Ascot. She studied economics at Bryn Mawr College.

Career

Botín worked at JP Morgan in the US from 1980 to 1988. In 1988, she returned to Spain and began working for the Santander Group. In 2002, she became the executive chairman of the Spanish bank, Banesto. In November 2010, Botín succeeded António Horta Osório as chief executive of Santander UK.
In 2013, she was appointed a director of the Coca-Cola Company.
In September 2014, she was appointed chair of the Santander Group. She is the fourth generation of the Botín family to hold this role.

Personal life

In 1983, she married fellow banker Guillermo Morenés y Mariátegui, son of the 9th Marquess of Borghetto, a wealthy landowner. They have three children: Felipe Morenés Botín, Javier Morenés Botín, and Pablo Morenés Botín.
In 2010, her husband bought a six-bedroom home in Belgravia, London. They also own a house in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad.
In December 2015, it was announced she would be made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the British financial sector.
That same year, Botín was presented with the FIRST Award for Responsible Capitalism.

Awards and honors

First listed in 2005, Botín was ranked as the eighth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in their 2019 listing.