I am going to try to remember that great, unrepeatable and wonderful person, who was my great friend Javier. He was a true colossus in all the varied fields of what we call “life”, many of which I have had the honor and pleasure of sharing with him. I’m going to start with what is least important to me, his brilliant professional career, which elEconomista.es has also highlighted, in detail and fully deservedly.
In that field, Javier was a man of super relevant executive qualities, very intelligent, tremendously fast, decisive and sharp who, in addition, possessed a singular quality: he knew how to convert the complex into something simple, as a consequence of the significant analytical capacity he had.
I brought him to BBV in the early nineties and he immediately stood out there, until he became, as in BBVA, a key general director of that bank that achieved global relevance, thanks, among others, to the brilliant contributions made by Xavier.
He voluntarily left the bank on the same day that I retired early and what for another person would have represented the end of a valuable professional career, was, on the contrary, the beginning of another magnificent and very varied one, in which he knew how to carry out management responsibilities. maximum relevance. Few people have achieved everything that Javier achieved through their own merits, in numerous and very different sectors.
Currently, in addition to being Vice President of the Board of Telefónica, a company whose Board he joined almost thirty years ago, and member of its Executive Committee, he was also a member of the Board of ACS and was a member of other relevant companies such as Repsol, ENCE, Sevillana de Electricidad, Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico, Metrovacesa, Abertis Infraestructuras, etc.
As if all of the above were not already enough, Javier recovered his old banking profession, but at an even higher level, as he was named President of Banco Guipuzcoano and, later, Vice President of the Board of Banco Sabadell and member of its Executive Commission.
This very well-known professional facet is joined by another that is less so, but which is worth remembering, because he demonstrated his courage and also his generosity: in 1980, at only 29 years old, he left a promising career in the insurance sector and joined a risky adventure, to hold the position of Director of Social Security in the nascent Basque Government, a position without tables, without chairs, without a budget, without anything, except the hope of building his Euskadi.
He knew how to sacrifice himself and take a step forward to work on the recovery of a sunken Basque Country, to whom he felt united, as well as to his language, by very deep convictions that he never hid.
All of the above amply justifies my having previously used the word “colossus” to describe Javier, since I believe that is the word that best defines his incredible professional and institutional career, in which he knew how to reap success after success.
But the thing is, and what I am going to write is unique, what Javier really projected was not only his tremendous ability as an executive, but the values that guided each of his actions and his own life.
Firstly, his immense generosity, as a collaborator of different foundations and social initiatives, to which was added that, without being a fervent believer, he fully fulfilled, and more than, the evangelical precept that “your left hand does not know what the right does”, because, quietly, he helped many people who were going through critical situations.
Added to this was his unwavering loyalty, his notable humility and a natural friendliness that made everyone who knew him feel valued and loved.
Coming from a beautiful Navarrese valley in the Pyrenees and born in Isaba, in 1951, Javier carried with him the serenity and strength of those beautiful mountains, values that he learned from a young age, and that he knew how to transmit to those around him, thanks to his parents, two magnificent people I was able to meet.
I cannot fail to mention also another person very close to me and whom I greatly admire, his brother Pedro Miguel, another great luminary, as he is a great physicist who has earned numerous recognitions such as the “Prince of Asturias for Scientific and Technical Research 1998” , with whom he shared a fraternal and endearing bond, full of camaraderie…except when they competed to the death, in all types of sports.
And Javier was, in addition to all the above, a great athlete, a quality that confirmed his status as a truly gifted person.
He shone, therefore, in all facets of life: he created a happy family, completed an excellent and successful professional career, competed at a magnificent level in all the sports he practiced, and, above all, he demonstrated human qualities. very valuable.
All of this allowed him to have an extensive community of friends, who admired and loved him deeply, because his ability to stand out and, at the same time, remain close, made him someone unique and unforgettable.
Today we mourn his departure, but we also celebrate the indelible mark he leaves on our lives. Javier will always live in our memories.
Rest in peace, wherever you are, surely in the highest.
#Javier #Echenique #unforgettable #person
