Press room

The members of Empresa Familiar de Castilla y León, an association comprising 180 family businesses in the region, have appointed Isidoro J. Alanís, founder and CEO of Global Exchange Group, as their next president at today's extraordinary assembly held in San Bernardo (Valladolid). The assembly took place within the framework of the 10th EFCL Congress, whose slogan this year is ‘The strength of people’.
He succeeds Pedro Palomo in this position, and will hold it for two years, as established in the association's statutes. Mr. Alanís is already the thirteenth president of this non-profit association, which was founded in 1997 to defend family businesses as the driving force behind the productive economy and the creation of employment in the region.
The 180 family businesses members of EFCL have a turnover of more than 10,000 million euros and 51,000 employees: a 17.40% and an 8.7%, respectively, of the GDP and the employed population in the private sector in Castilla y León. In his first speech as president of the EFCL, Isidoro J. Alanís said that he will defend the role of family businesses as the cornerstone of the welfare state, will support them so that they continue to grow and acquire a larger size, and will work together with the Public Administrations to promote the attraction and retention of talent.
As part of its objective to help to the development of a more sustainable society, the EFCL aims to be a key driver of the development and continuity of its member businesses. It also acts as a necessary mediator with the Public Administrations when designing strategic programmes, and as a voice that conveys the value of family business for its different stakeholders.

Isidoro J. Alanís, President and CEO of Global Exchange Group

Isidoro has a degree in Business Management and Administration from the Antonio de Nebrija University in Madrid. In 1996, his entrepreneurial spirit led him to become the first employee of Global Exchange Group (Eurodivisas S.A.) in Fuentes de Oñoro, Salamanca.
From its founding until 2008, Isidoro J. Alanís was Vice President of the company, and from 2008 to the present, he is the current CEO of this leading multinational foreign exchange company.
Global Exchange Group, based in Salamanca, closed the 2023 financial year with 2,409 employees, 376 offices and a turnover of 250 M€; 12 million customers used its services that year. Currently, it operates in 25 countries of the five continents, in 68 major international airports and other areas of great tourist interest (historic centres, ports, train stations...).
Isidoro J. Alanís is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI), as a treasurer, and of the Executive Committee of the Air Institute Foundation for research in artificial intelligence and computer science. He is also a member of the Council of Chambers of Commerce of Castilla y León and a member of the Alumni Advisory Board of the University of Salamanca.
In 2016 he received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Castilla y León, awarded by the newspaper El Norte de Castilla. He has also received the CEOE Castilla y León 2022 Award for the province of Salamanca, and the Castilla y León Económica 2023 Award of Honour.

Isidoro J. Alanís is married, has 4 children and from 2007 to May 2023 he balanced his work as a businessman with his position as Mayor of the Town Council of Fuentes de Oñoro.