The President of Caja Rural del Sur and the Huelva Federation of Entrepreneurs (FOE), José Luis García Palacios Alvarez, will join the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters of Huelva (ACAL Huelva) In the session to be held on May 15th at 7:00 pm in the Alumni Room of the Faculty of Business Sciences of the University of Huelva.
The future academic will deliver the entry speech Credit Cooperatives in Spain: A Unique Storywhich will be answered by the academy member number, Thomas Jimenez Villanueva.
García Palacios Alvarez (Huelva, 1967) is Agrotechnical engineer from the University of Huelva and a Master’s degree in Agribusiness from ETS for Agronomists (Etsiam) and Technical School of Agricultural Economics (Etea) of the University of Cordoba. He continued to complete his training on an ongoing basis with several specialized courses in Graduate Business Administration, Skills Development, Marketing and Corporate Internationalization taught by San Telmo International Institute – IESE, School of Industrial Organization (EOI) and ICEX.
Its activity in the agricultural sector, which began in family farms, which led him to establish companies for the same purpose, as well as performing many representative positions for companies in the sector at the local, regional and international levels. Among other positions, he was President of Asaja-Huelva, Vice-President of Asaja Andalucía, President of Seprocoop, President of Interfresa since its foundation and in its various subsequent stages, and President of the Encinal Forum which includes associations in Spain and Portugal. Since January 2015, he has been Chairman of the FOE, Chairman of the Business Development Foundation (FOE Foundation) and a member of the Executive Committee of the FOE. Andalusian Businessmen (CEA).
The new academic also stands out for its activity in the economic and financial sectors, starting in 1998 as a director of Caja Rural del Sur, as a member of its executive committee and patron of its foundation in 2000. In May 2017 he was elected president of the board of directors of Caja Rural del Sur. He has been President of Rural Computer Services (RSI) since 2017, representing Caja Rural del Sur. He sits on the boards of Banco Cooperativo Español, Rural Grupo Asegurador, Spanish Association of Rural Savings Banks and National Federation of Credit Cooperatives. He is also a member of Executive Committee of the International Agricultural Credit Union, based in Zurich.
In the institutional representation of the productive sectors it is responsible for, it has organized and participated in many national and international conferences, conferences and meetings. Likewise, it has represented these sectors institutionally in the regional parliaments, the Spanish Congress and Senate, and the European Parliament. In this sense, she promoted the constitution of Ponencia de la Dehesa in the Senate, and led to the drafting of the Dehesa de Andalucía, or new quality standard for Iberian pig at the national level.
His work has won numerous local, regional and national awards, including Gold medal of the city of HuelvaExecutive Award for Andalusia 2019 from the magazine executivethe Grand Cross with White Distinction in Merit for the Civil Guard, the Military Cross of Merit with White Distinction awarded by the Ministry of Defense and the Talent Award from the Talento Club and Crewe Spain.
He is a member of the Doñana 21 Foundation, and since January 2020, President of the Social Council of the University of Huelva. At the beginning of 2023, he was appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Princess of Asturias Foundation.
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