“I accept the appointment at CriteriaCaixa with responsibility and gratitude for the trust placed in me”
CriteriaCaixa this week appointed Ángel Simon, who is currently executive vice president for Iberia and Latin America at Veolia, as CEO. This promotion recognizes his distinguished career as President of Agbar, a company of which CriteriaCaixa is a historical shareholder, and Simon will continue to support Veolia as President of Aigües de Barcelona.
The appointment marks the beginning of a transition of internal management at Agbar, “backed by an experienced and competent management team,” the company explained. The company will continue to strive to “address the challenges and opportunities of the public services sector, ensuring continuous improvement of its economic performance.” In his statement, Agbar assured that the company remains committed to “providing quality services to its customers, contributing to the socio-economic development of the communities in which it operates and creating value for its shareholders.”
“I accept this appointment with responsibility and gratitude for the trust placed in me. This new phase is also a recognition of the teams and their dedication to people and the environment, the project of ecological transformation promoted by Veolia and its professionals, a global benchmark. in this area,” emphasized Angel Simon.
Estelle Brahlianoff, CEO of Veolia, said: “I extend my best wishes to Angel Simon as he begins a new chapter in his career. “His outstanding leadership and dedication to his work have left an indelible mark on the lives of Agbar and Veolia, and I am confident that he will demonstrate the same level of excellence in his new position at CriteriaCaixa,”
Biography of Angel Simon
The new CEO of CriteriaCaixa is an engineer for roads, canals and ports. He joined the Agbar Group in 1995, where he held many positions of responsibility until his appointment as President in 2010. He was also Executive Vice President of Suez (2013-2022). and manager of the Barcelona agglomeration (1989–1995), among other positions. He has received many awards throughout his career, including the Professional Career Award from the Caminos Foundation in 2023 and the Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 Medal of Honor from Foment del Treball. He also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Princess of Girona Foundation and the Royal Spanish Academy Foundation.
With 213,000 employees across five continents, Veolia develops and implements useful and practical solutions for water, waste and energy management that help radically change the world. Through three complementary activities, Veolia contributes to increasing access to resources, preserving existing resources and renewing them. In 2022, the Veolia Group supplied drinking water to 111 million people and wastewater to 97 million, produced 44 terawatt-hours of energy and disposed of 61 million metric tons of waste. In 2022, Veolia Environnement had consolidated sales of €42.9 billion.