About Cristina

Cristina has an extensive executive career in financial services, covering Asset Management, Corporate & Investment Banking and Markets. She spent 17 years at Santander, where she held several senior positions, including Head of Trading at the domestic broker, senior FIG Banker in CIB, and Global Head of Institutional Business at Santander Asset Management. Her initial professional experience was at Merrill Lynch for 10 years, rising to the position of Senior Equity Trader.

Her board experience began in 2016 at Marymount International School, where she became Chair in 2018. She has also served on the board of Santander Asset Management UK Holdings and is currently an independent board member of Subgen AI and its listed VC subsidiary Substrate AI.

Cristina is passionate about talent development and inclusive leadership. She has led initiatives in talent acquisition, development, and retention, and served on the board of Women in Banking and Finance, promoting DE&I across the industry.

She holds a BA in Business Administration from Staffordshire University (UK) and a degree in Business Administration, Marketing, and Public Relations from ESERP (Spain). She also holds two master’s degrees: an Executive MBA from IE Business School and a Master’s in Portfolio Management from IEB (Spain), along with a Board of Directors Diploma from IMD, awarded with high distinction.

After nearly three decades in high-pressure leadership roles, Cristina trained as a reiki master teacher. Her reiki journey led to the creation of Leadership Reiki—a grounded, practical approach that integrates wellbeing into executive development and organisational culture.