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Gonzalo De Las Heras. Age 67. Mr. Gonzalo de las Heras joined Banco Santander in 1990. He is Executive Vice President of Grupo Santander, supervising its U.S. business. He is Chairman of Santander Bancorp, Puerto Rico; Banco Santander International, Miami; Santander Trust & Bank (Bahamas) Limited, and Banco Santander (Suisse). Prior to that, Mr. de las Heras held various positions at J.P. Morgan, lastly as Senior Vice President and Managing Director heading its Latin American division. He served as a Director of First Fidelity Bancorporation until its merger with First Union.
Mr. de las Heras has a law degree from the University of Madrid and as a Del Amo Scholar pursued postgraduate studies in Business Administration and Economics at the University of Southern California.
From 1993 to 1997, Mr. de las Heras served on the New York State Banking Board. He is chairman of the Foreign Policy Association, a Trustee and past chairman of the Institute of International Bankers, and a Director of both The Spanish Institute and the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce. Mr. de las Heras was elected to Sovereign Bancorp’s Board in September of 2006.
Mr. de las Heras was appointed to the Board as a Class I director, effective on October 6, 2006, pursuant to the terms of the Investment Agreement. Mr. de las Heras serves on our Compensation, Executive, Nominating, Mergers and Acquisition and Retirement Savings Plan Committees. | 