CAREER
A trajectory across finance, academia and impact
A professional journey from an ESADE education grounded in finance and values to international investment banking, entrepreneurship, academic leadership and impact investing.
GENIVS
FOUNDING PARTNER & CEO
2025 — Present · Madrid
Founding Partner and CEO of Spain’s first regulated social impact fund dedicated to affordable rental housing, building an institutional platform targeting c. 3,000 homes across Spain.
ESADE Business School
PROFESSOR OF FINANCE · MASTER IN FINANCE DIRECTOR
2005 — Present · Madrid
Member of ESADE’s Core Faculty, Professor of Finance and Director of the Master in Finance, combining academic leadership with teaching across Corporate Finance, valuation, M&A and executive education.
Independent M&A Advisor
INDEPENDENT ADVISORY
2019 — 2025 · Madrid
Independent adviser to entrepreneurs, privately owned businesses, companies and investors on selected M&A and corporate finance situations.
Credit Suisse
HEAD OF MIDDLE MARKET · EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
2007 — 2019 · Madrid
The combination of large-cap investment banking experience at Goldman Sachs and middle-market advisory positioned Santiago to create and lead Credit Suisse’s Middle Market team in Spain, a hybrid platform designed to connect the bank’s Wealth Management and Private Banking client base with its Investment Banking capabilities. Led both the origination and execution of transactions, from initial client engagement through structuring, negotiation and closing.
M&A Boutique & Corporate Finance
CO-FOUNDER · M&A ADVISOR
2002 — 2007 · Madrid
Co-founded and developed an independent M&A boutique, advising entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses on corporate finance, valuation and transactions. This marked a shift from the large-cap transactions at Goldman Sachs to the middle market, providing first-hand exposure to the different dynamics of advising entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses.
Goldman Sachs
ANALYST & ASSOCIATE · INVESTMENT BANKING DIVISION
1998 — 2002 · London
Began his investment banking career in London, advising major corporate and institutional clients on M&A and capital markets transactions. This experience provided a strong grounding in transaction analysis, valuation, deal structuring and execution within an international investment banking environment.
EDUCATION
ESADE Business School
BUSINESS DEGREE · FINANCE
1993 — 1998 · Barcelona
Graduated with Honors. Completed the final two years of the programme with a full specialization in Finance.
Final thesis awarded Cum Laude in 2002 for an analysis of the terms of the merger between Banco Santander and Banco Central Hispanoamericano — the first transaction he worked on at Goldman Sachs. The thesis was completed under the supervision of ESADE Professor Jordi Fabregat, whose teaching and expertise in Corporate Finance helped shape Santiago’s early interest in the field and influenced his decision to pursue a career in Investment Banking.
The work covered the full range of valuation methodologies applicable to financial institutions, whose economics and valuation frameworks differ significantly from those used across most other industries. Available through ESADE’s library resources, it continues to serve as a reference for students seeking to understand the specialised valuation approaches applicable to financial institutions.
University of Illinois
FINANCE · INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME
1998
Completed the international component of his ESADE Business Degree at the University of Illinois, specialising in Finance at a leading U.S. business school with a longstanding reputation in the field — currently ranked #12 among U.S. undergraduate business programmes by U.S. News & World Report.