Pilar Martínez-Cosentino, vice president of Grupo Cosentino, a world leader in the production and distribution of innovative and sustainable surfaces for architecture and design, has been named the national winner of the fifth "CaixaBank Women in Business Awards," which acknowledges the talent and professional excellence of businesswomen in Spain, and promotes networks of contacts between leading businesswomen worldwide.
The jury of the awards, comprising CaixaBank's Diversity Committee —made up of directors of the Management Committee and various leaders of the company’s diversity projects— has selected the executive from Almería from among the 14 regional winners for her outstanding professional career, commitment to innovation, ongoing training and internationalisation, firm commitment to the region and local community, and her transformative leadership.
Pilar Martínez-Cosentino, born in 1979, holds a Bachelor of Law and Legal Counsel from ICADE. She joined Cosentino in 2003 and was appointed executive vice president of the Group in 2015. In her position, Pilar has contributed, through her work, to the ongoing growth of a family-owned company that distributes brands like Silestone® and Dekton® to more than 110 countries, and has a turnover forecast for this year of more than €1.3 billion. The company employs 5,300 people worldwide, more than 2,300 of them located in Spain.
The functions of Pilar's role includes coordinating and heading various work teams in different areas such as human resources. With a commitment to foster talent, internal promotion and ongoing training; digital transformation, a key tool in the group's international expansion plan; and the evolution of the distribution model, by implementing and extending innovative concepts such as the “Centers” or comprehensive logistics and service platforms; and “Cities” or showrooms located in the world's major cities.
Furthermore, Pilar Martínez-Cosentino, like the entire Martínez-Cosentino family and the Group in general, upholds a firm commitment to the region and local communities through various initiatives focused on training and education, and driving integration and equality. She has also recently been named one of the top "100 leading women in Spain" in the latest edition of the Women&cia ranking.
For the executive, “this distinction is a matter of great pride and it is an honour and personal value to be part of a network of extraordinary professionals. But above all, it highlights both the enormous effort and dedication of every worker at Cosentino, as well as the work of businesspeople as an inescapable driver of economic and social development."
The IWEC Awards
Pilar Martínez-Cosentino, winner of the "CaixaBank Women in Business Award 2021," will be one of the Spanish representatives at the IWEC 2021 awards, given as part of the International Women's Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) annual conference, to be held virtually this year on 9 and 10 November under the title: “Connecting Women Businesses Globally – Sustainability of Business: From Surviving to Thriving.”
The Spanish executive will accompany Sandra Santos, CEO of the BA Glass group, a Portuguese representative at the IWEC Awards, after winning the "BPI Mulher Empresária Award 2021" awarded by BPI, a subsidiary of CaixaBank in Portugal.
The International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge is a worldwide network of female business leaders who nurture company ownership and cooperate on a global level with the goal of creating and distributing wealth in the business world.
The mission of the IWEC awards is to acknowledge and support businesswomen around the world, so that they can represent a major and decisive element in the development of the 21st century global economy.
Since its founding in 2007, IWEC has rewarded 384 entrepreneurs from 42 countries. The companies led by these entrepreneurs generate 268,516 jobs and they present joint revenue of over 35 billion dollars.
Wengage, CaixaBank's commitment to equality
Diversity, meritocracy, equal opportunities and talent recognition are some of the pillars of CaixaBank's corporate culture. Under these premises, it works with a commitment to be a pacesetter for its employees, promoting inclusion and participation and bolstering projects that promote equality, both within the company and across the whole of society. In fact, 41.3% of managerial positions at CaixaBank are held by women (July 2021), and it has a public commitment to reach 43% in 2021. Furthermore, the Board of Directors is made up of 40% women, one of the highest ratios of the sector.
CaixaBank's Wengage diversity programme is a cross-disciplinary project developed by people from all areas of CaixaBank, based on meritocracy and the promotion of equal opportunities, which works to foster and visualise gender, functional and generational diversity. Wengage includes internal measures to foster flexibility and work-life balance, to raise awareness regarding diversity and strengthen the role of women, with training programmes and female mentoring plans, through which female managers will guide other professionals in developing their careers.
Wengage also develops external initiatives for customers and society, based on championing the diversity and equal opportunities in 3 fields of action: leadership and entrepreneurship, innovation and education, and sport.
Furthermore, CaixaBank has had an Equality Plan since January 2020 to promote the principles of equal opportunities and diversity in work teams, increase the presence of women in managerial positions and strengthen measures to enhance the work-life balance. The plan features the scope of gender in managerial development programs and in recruitment and training processes, and the fostering of teleworking and flexibility.
Since 2018, CaixaBank has adhered to the EJE&CON Code of Good Practices for Talent Management and the Improvement of Company Competitiveness, committing itself to fostering the presence of women in managerial positions, and works actively to drive their international outreach. It is also part of the STEAM Alliance for Female Talent “Girls on the Science Stand,” an initiative led by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to promote STEAM careers in girls and young women. It is also associated with the international programme Target Gender Equality and the Women’s Empowerment Principles, of the United Nations; and the Diversity Charter, promoting equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory measures.
Recognition of diversity
As a result of this commitment, CaixaBank has received recognition as the world's best bank for gender equality according to the international 2021 Bloomberg Index, and is in first position in Spain in the EWoB Gender Diversity Index.
It also boasts other distinctions in this field such as the Equality in Business Badge (DIE), managed by the Women's Institute, and has been recognised by the Másfamilia Foundation with EFR Certification (Family Responsible Company), being the first Spanish company to obtain level of excellency A.
These awards come in addition to the 25th Anniversary Award of FEDEPE (Spanish Federation of Women Directors, Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs) and the Diversity Foundation's distinction of the Wengage programme as “Best Practice of a Large Enterprise 2020”.
