Microsoft Spain appoints Paco Salcedo president of the subsidiary

The appointment of Paco Salcedo as president of Microsoft Spain will be effective from 1 January 2025, replacing Alberto Granados, who will occupy a new position within the company's management team in EMEA.

In order to guarantee a smooth transition in the direction of Microsoft Spain, the new president of the subsidiary as of 1 January 2025, Paco Salcedo, and until now its maximum manager, Alberto Granados, They will work together during the first quarter of next year.

From his new responsibility, Salcedo will lead an organization of more than 1.300 professionals, dedicated to helping Spanish companies and public entities in their digital transformation strategies, and promote the transition towards a AI economics based on responsible and sustainable innovation.

With a career of more than twenty-five years in the ICT industry, Salcedo brings extensive global experience in digital services innovation, disruptive business models and growth strategies, combined with solid technical training, commercial, financial, business leadership and marketing.

Until his appointment as president of Microsoft Spain, Paco Salcedo held the position of general director of the large companies division of CEMA in this company. (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa).

Before joining Microsoft, was senior vice president of Etisalat Digital (a division of this Emirati telecommunications operator), where he led an organization focused on promoting the digital transformation of companies and public administrations in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

In Spain, Salcedo has held different management positions at Telefónica for fifteen years, including Director of Operations (COO) from Telefónica Solutions, working with clients in Spain, Latin America and Europe.

Telecommunications Engineer by the Polytechnic University of Madrid, This manager has completed an Executive Master's Degree in Business Administration from INSEAD / Euroforum and another in Space Communication Systems from the École Nationales de Télécommunication of Paris. Throughout his career he has been part of the executive boards of several startups., which include cybersecurity company Help AG, as general manager, and systems integrator Smart World.

Alberto Granados, not Microsoft EMEA

After three and a half years as president of the Spanish subsidiary, Granados will occupy a new leadership position in Microsoft EMEA, a period in which the company has experienced annual growth in its income above the average of the technology sector in Spain and in which it has gone from 810 to more than 1.300 employees.

In recent years, Microsoft has announced important investments in Spain, among which the opening of its first Cloud Region, located in the Community of Madrid; the future construction of Data center campus in Aragon, and the launch of a Artificial Intelligence R&D Hub in Barcelona.

According to a recent analysis by the consulting firm IDC, the impact of the Microsoft cloud ecosystem, which includes the company, your partners and customers who use these solutions, could represent a impact on the national GDP of more than 102.000 million euros in the period 2024 – 2030, contributing to the creation of 194.000 specialized jobs in the technology industry in those years.

Under the presidency of Alberto Granados, Microsoft has established important strategic alliances with companies, educational institutions and Spanish public administrations and has signed a collaboration framework agreement with the Government of Spain to promote the adoption of responsible AI in Public Administration, as well as to improve the cybersecurity of critical infrastructures, public bodies, companies and citizens.

Besides, The company has intensified its initiatives digital training throughout these years to reduce the digital talent gap and promote the creation of specialized employment. In your fiscal year 2023, Microsoft Spain was distinguished, for the first time in its history, with the award for the best subsidiary of this multinational in the world.

Alberto Granados has more than thirty years of experience in the technology industry. He joined Microsoft Spain in 1995 y, before being appointed president in 2021, He held executive positions in the subsidiary as director of consulting services, business solutions and large companies.

Previously, held global and regional leadership positions at Microsoft, including vice president of sales, marketing and operations for the Asia-Pacific region, general director of large companies for Latin America and vice president of digital transformation alliances in the corporation.

Alberto Granados studied Computer Science at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and has postgraduate training at IESE -University of Navarra-, INSEAD, MIT Sloan School of Management, Saïd Business School (Oxford University) y Harvard Business School. He is president of Forética (leading organization in sustainability and corporate social responsibility in Spain) and the Spanish Business Council for Sustainable Development, in addition to collaborating as an advisor to the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.