— Governance —
Meet our trustees
Sir Anthony Cooke-Yarborough
BritishSpanish Society chairman
Sir Anthony Cooke-Yarborough was appointed as BritishSpanish Society chairman in November 2024.
Sir Anthony is private banking chair of EFG International, a global private banking group headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, having been CEO of its UK subsidiary EFG Private Bank from 2011 to 2019. He has previously held senior roles at Barclays, Merrill Lynch and Lloyds, including international postings in Spain, South America and the US.
Dame Mary Marsh
Deputy Chair, Strategic Review
Dame Mary has held a range of governance experience as a charity trustee and in wider cross-sector non-executive roles including non-executive director of HSBC Bank plc, a member of the Governing Body at London Business School, a Director on the board of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), a Trustee of Teach First and a Patron of the EY Foundation.
Dame Mary was the first independent Chair of Trustees at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) a role she held for five years, until October 2021. She was also a member of the Financial Inclusion Commission from 2014 – 21. In the earlier stages of her life journey she was a teacher, including as a deputy head and then headteacher of two comprehensive schools. She was Chief Executive of the NSPCC from 2000 – 08. After this she went on to be the Founding Director of Clore Social Leadership until 2015.
Dame Mary met her bilingual late husband Juan Enrique Marsh at university. She, her four sons and their families, continue to have a great love of Spain and its people.
Michael Morley
Vice-Chair (in Spain)
Michael Morley is an experienced Chief Executive and Board Chair having held senior positions at DEUTSCHE BANK AG, COUTTS & CO and ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND INTERNATIONAL. In his early career he undertook International assignments for Lloyds Bank in Buenos Aires, Argentina Peru. Michael hold an MA in Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge and continues to read extensively in European languages.
Juan Reig Mascarell
Treasurer
Juan Reig Mascarell grew up in Denia, Alicante, lived for a year in the United States and went on to complete a BA in Business Administration in Valencia. In 1999, after finishing University, Juan moved to London and soon became a member of the BritishSpanish Society.
Juan is a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, where he trades corporate credit within the Markets Division.
Cristina Álvarez-Campana
Trustee – Head of Events and Institutional Relations
Amy Bell
Head of Communications, Social Media, Press and Data
Before joining the Financial Times as commissioning editor in 2010 Amy Bell taught English in Madrid. Amy has a special interest in Spanish language, art and culture and edited the BritishSpanish Society’s flagship publication, La Revista, from 2013 to 2017.
Amy was previously editor of curated content for FT Live and has more than ten years of experience in journalism, editorial production and live events.
Andrew Clark
Trustee
Andrew studied History at Cambridge, focusing on modern British and European history. Andrew is a partner with the international law firm of Allen & Overy. He is currently General Counsel of the firm and chairs its Risk Committee. He lived in Madrid for a couple of years as head of Allen & Overy’s Spanish offices.
He is a specialist in dispute resolution and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a licensed advocate and a qualified mediator.
Brian J. Douglas
Trustee
With a Spanish mother and British father and parts of childhood spent in Rome and Paris, Brian is very much a European citizen.
He has a Commerce degree from Edinburgh University, a Masters in Marketing Strategy from Greenwich University, PMD from IESE and GAMP from ESADE Business Schools and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
He has been in the Technology sector for over twenty-five years and based in Madrid for much of this time in Business Development and International Marketing roles at both multinational companies (Unisys, Nortel Networks and G&D) as well as his own start-ups.
Juan Flames
Trustee
Juan is the Chief Executive Officer of BME, Head of BME Exchanges and Primary Markets SIX and member of the Board of Directors of BME Markets & Exchanges. He previously held senior positions within Barclay’s Bank and Goldman Sachs International.
Now based in Madrid, he lived in London for 20+ years. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law and Business Administration from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE).
José Ivars-López
Trustee – Head of Corporate Development & Growth
José Ivars (also known as Pepe) has over two decades of experience in leadership roles across different companies and industries. He is managing director of Euronet Payment Services and Ria Financial for UKI, one of the largest payment companies in the world. He specialises in building propositions that deliver tangible value to customers, employees, and society in general, and then scaling and taking that product or service globally.
Pepe combines his role in the city with his passion for the exploration, adventure, and expeditions to some of the worlds’ more remote areas, and always with the commitment of responsible leadership and respect towards the environment. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club.
He has been member of the society since 2000, and previously served as a Trustee from 2009 until 2020.
José Olivares Paret
Trustee
José was born and raised in Madrid. He holds a Computer Engineering degree from ICAI, a Marketing degree from ICADE, a BSc in Business Information Technology from the University of Wales, and a PDG from IESE Business School.
He has more than 15-years’ experience in innovation, corporate venturing, consulting, and venture building, working for corporations in Madrid and in London, where he lived between 2016 and 2022.
José works with entrepreneurs and corporations building new business ventures, using the latest technologies and digital solutions, and connecting them with business angels and venture capital funds to accelerate their growth.
Jimmy Burns Marañón, OBE
Trustee
Born in Madrid to a Spanish mother and British father, Jimmy Burns Marañon was the chairman of the BritishSpanish Society from March 2013 to November 2024, and an active member of the Society since the 1970s. Jimmy was also the Editor of the Society’s magazine La Revista from 2010 to 2013 and now serves as Executive Editor.
As a journalist Jimmy worked for the Financial Times for over three decades (1979 – 2009), during which he was posted as a foreign correspondent in Lisbon, Madrid and Buenos Aires before working for the newspaper as a senior reporter in a number of fields including industrial relations, special investigations, politics, crime and security.
Jimmy is also the author of several books and is an independent consultant on Spain and Latin America.
Aside from the BritishSpanish Society, Jimmy is also the Co-Founder of Friends of Battersea Park; has served as a member of the Management Council of Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies (London School of Economics), is a Director of The Tablet Publishing Company, and former President of the Stonyhurst Association.