Nicolas De Santis | |
---|---|
Born | Madrid, Spain | 18 March 1966
Citizenship | Italian |
Occupation | Businessman |
Known for | Opodo and beenz.com |
Title | Founder of Megavisionary Labs, President of Gold Mercury International Award |
Spouse | Melissa Odabash |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Eduardo De Santis and Maria Cuadra |
Website | www |
Nicolas De Santis (born 18 March 1966) is an Italian businessman. He is the founder and chief disruption officer of Megavisionary Labs, an advisory firm and ventures incubator. In 2004 he became the president and secretary general of Gold Mercury International Award, a think tank and global governance award organisation founded in 1961 by his father. [1] [2]
Nicolas De Santis is the son of Spanish actress Maria Cuadra and film producer Eduardo De Santis. [3] [4]
De Santis was the marketing director and co-founder of European online travel portal Opodo, [5] a position which he left in 2003. [6]
De Santis was recruited by Spencer Stuart from beenz.com in 2001 to become the chief marketing officer of Opodo, the European travel portal originally co-owned with 9 European airlines including British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines and Finnair. [7] Opodo was the European version of Orbitz, the American travel website owned by various American airlines. In 2008, Opodo's turnover reached €1.3 billion in gross sales. [8]
His previous internet venture was beenz.com (the first virtual internet currency) where he was chief marketing officer. [9] De Santis invested in and joined Beenz in 1999 as one of the founding team members. [10] De Santis helped to raise $100 million [11] from investors including Carlo de Benedetti and François Pinault. [12] Beenz was sold in 2001 to the US Carlson Marketing Group. [13]
In the 1990s, De Santis worked for the European Union under President Enrique Baron Crespo [14] where he advised on issues relating to European identity and the launch of the Euro currency.
As part of the launch of the Euro currency he developed and launched Captain Euro, Europe's superhero, designed to analyse the perceptions and emotions of Europeans regarding federalism and European identity, and appeal to the people. [15] It aimed to appeal to the European youth, and espouse the virtues of integration. [16]
In 2013, De Santis launched the Brand EU Centre, an independent, pro-EU initiative to improve the management of the European Union brand. [17] One of the main activities of the centre was to support the REMAIN campaign in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. The BRAND EU Centre was launched with the support of former European Parliament President Enrique Baron Crespo and American Investor Todd Ruppert. [18]
De Santis started his career at Landor Associates (now WPP Group) where his father was a partner. [3] As a strategy advisor, Nicolas has created strategies and visions for governments, academic institutions, global brands, and technology start-ups, such as: British Airways, Opodo, Morgan Stanley, Iberdrola, Garanti Bank, Coca-Cola, PRISA and the European Union (see Captain Euro), among others. [4]
De Santis was a board member of Nasdaq-listed Lyris Technologies – a digital marketing & CRM analytic solutions company. [19] Based in Silicon Valley, California, Lyris was acquired by Texas-based AUREA Software in 2015. [20]
In January 2013, he joined the board of the Global Virus Network (GVN) where he is a senior advisor. [21] De Santis believes that: "As our planet's population grows exponentially, GVN's role in tackling old and new viruses will become central in preventing, protecting and curing present and future generations." [21]
In 2019, he joined the board of trustees of the World Law Foundation, an international organisation promoting peace and respect for the rule of law, associated with the World Jurist Association. [22] In 2021, he joined the board of directors of Nasdaq-listed Ferroglobe, a producer of silicon metal, silicon-based alloys and manganese-based specialty alloys. [23]
He is married to the American swimsuit designer Melissa Odabash, and they have two teenage daughters. [24] [25]
The euro is the official currency of 20 of the 27 member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 100 euro cents.
The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 20 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies.
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Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide.
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Opodo is a Spanish-owned online travel agency which offers deals in regular and charter flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, car rental, dynamic packages, holiday packages and travel insurance. It is a pan-European enterprise, founded by a consortium of European airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines and Finnair. The travel technology provider Amadeus owned 99.4% of the company until 2011, when it was taken over by eDreams ODIGEO.
Amadeus IT Group, S.A. is a major Spanish multinational technology company that provides software for the global travel and tourism industry. It is the world's leading provider of travel technology that focus on developing software for airlines, hotels, travel agencies, and other travel-related businesses.
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Bulgaria plans to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. The Bulgarian lev has been on a currency board since 1997, with a fixed exchange rate initially against the Deutsche Mark and subsequently its replacement the euro. Bulgaria's target date for introduction of the euro was 1 January 2025. However, the 2024 ECB convergence report concluded that Bulgaria did not meet the convergence criteria due to high inflation, so this timeline has been delayed. The Bulgarian National Bank and several Bulgarian politicians have expressed their desire to join as soon as possible, and project that inflation will be low enough by the end of 2024. If Bulgaria adopts the euro, it will become the second national currency of the country after the lev, which was introduced over 140 years ago. The fixed exchange rate is 1.95583 lev for 1 euro.
beenz.com was a website that allowed consumers to earn beenz, a type of online currency, for performing activities such as visiting a web site, shopping online, or logging on through an Internet service provider. The beenz e-currency could then be spent with participating online merchants.
The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating an economic and monetary union (EMU) by 1999 for all EU states except the UK and Denmark.
Captain Euro is a fictional comic book-style superhero character, created in 1999 as a way to promote the European Union, and specifically the Euro, the single European currency that arrived in 2002. The character has been featured on a website since 1999, but has not appeared in any actual comic books. The website's contents are available only in English.
The international status and usage of the euro has grown since its launch in 1999. When the euro formally replaced 12 currencies on 1 January 2002, it inherited their use in territories such as Montenegro and replaced minor currencies tied to pre-euro currencies, such as in Monaco. Four small states have been given a formal right to use the euro, and to mint their own coins, but all other usage outside the eurozone has been unofficial. With or without an agreement, these countries, unlike those in the eurozone, do not participate in the European Central Bank or the Eurogroup.
International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is a British-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its corporate headquarters in London, England. It was formed in January 2011 after a merger agreement between British Airways and Iberia, the flag carriers of the United Kingdom and Spain respectively, when British Airways and Iberia became wholly owned subsidiaries of IAG. British Airways shareholders were given 55% of the shares in the new company.
eDreams is an online travel agency based in Barcelona, Spain, that offers deals on regular and charter flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, car rentals, dynamic packages, holiday packages and travel insurance.
eDreams ODIGEO is a Spanish online travel company that was formed in 2011 as the successor of eDreams with the merger of online travel agencies eDreams and GO Voyages, and the acquisition of Opodo.
The Brand EU Centre is a pro-EU research and communications centre created and run by think tank Gold Mercury International and CorporateVision.io a strategy consulting firm, both located in London, England, United Kingdom. Its function is to "improve the management of the European Union brand". The Brand EU Centre was founded in 2014, and is run by Nicolas De Santis, President and Secretary General of Gold Mercury, and Enrique Barón Crespo, former President of the European Parliament.
The Gold Mercury International Award is presented by Gold Mercury International, an International nongovernmental organization (INGO) and think tank. The original Mercurio D'oro awards were given by an association of Italian journalists to Italian individuals and companies. Later the awards were extended to Europe and then became international. Awards are given to prominent people and organizations for contributions to world peace, good governance and development of global commerce. Award-giving ceremonies were held in cities such as Brussels, Moscow, Karachi and Addis Ababa. The NGO that administers the awards moved to London, England in the late 1990s. The current President and Secretary General is Nicolas De Santis, son of Eduardo De Santis, the founder of Gold Mercury International.
David P. Scowsill is a British businessman, and serial non-executive director and chairman, known for his contributions to the travel and tourism industries. He is the former president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council.
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