Good morning! Marine Le Pen was barred from running for office, Columbia University has a new president (again), and we have the latest from one of the most powerful women in Europe.
– At the top. Last year, Ana Botín ranked No. 15 on Fortune’s annual ranking of the world’s Most Powerful Women in Business. The Banco Santander executive chair is the fourth member of her family to lead the legacy Spanish bank and has held her position for a decade. She remains one of the most influential women in Europe—and Santander has been on an upswing, ranked No. 10 on the Fortune 500 Europe. My colleague Prarthana Prakash has a new interview with Botín in the most recent magazine issue of Fortune.
Botín chats with Prarthana about her daily routine, business trends, and the challenges facing European business. European business leaders have a real “productivity gap” with the U.S., Botín acknowledges. “We have to be honest with society about the scale of the challenge and the urgency of the need for change,” she says. “We must do much more to embrace innovation and enterprise, creating a business environment and culture that rewards smart risk-taking.” She advocates for reducing “regulatory and supervisory complexity” and creating a new “social compact” between business and society.
Santander has more than 170 million customers around the world and earned €12.6 billion in profits last year. After a challenging period, higher interest rates, a focus on digital banking, and strong investment banking performance in the U.S. have started to pay off. Those are some striking achievements for one of the few women to lead a major global bank.
Read the full interview here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Election ineligibility. Far-right French politician Marine Le Pen was barred from running for public office for five years, after she was found guilty of embezzlement; she denied wrongdoing. Now, Le Pen is effectively ineligible to run in France’s 2027 presidential election—an election in which she was the front-runner. New York Times
- Third time’s the charm. Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong stepped down on Friday, making her the second president to resign from the school in the past—tumultuous—seven months. Claire Shipman, co-chair of Columbia’s board, was named acting president, while Armstrong will return to her previous position heading the medical school. AP
- Found at Fuji. An investigation into Fuji Media revealed that the group’s TV network cultivated a culture of power imbalance and harassment. This review follows December’s sexual assault allegations against Fuji TV presenter Masahiro Nakai, the TV unit's president stepping down, and advertisers dropping the network; Nakai made a public apology and retired from TV. Bloomberg
- Industrial-tech. Construct Capital raised $300 million for its third fund focused on investing in the industrial-tech space, part of a growing interest from venture firms in the “deep-tech” sector. The firm was founded by former New Enterprise Associates partner Dayna Grayson and former Uber exec Rachel Holt. Wall Street Journal
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Net Health, a healthcare software provider, appointed Christy Totin as CFO. She was most recently the company’s SVP, finance and accounting.
Verizon named Mary Sagripanti VP and CMO of Verizon Value. Previously, she was CMO of Amazon's Ring.
Fast food restaurant Bojangles appointed Kate Ward as chief legal officer; she succeeds Laura Roberts. Ward most recently served as chief legal officer at KFC.
Pyx Health, a care provider focused on loneliness, named Alexis Colton chief revenue officer. Most recently, she was the company’s EVP of sales.
Cloudflare, a content delivery network and other services provider, appointed Stacey Cunningham to its board of directors. She was previously president of the New York Stock Exchange and is currently an operating partner at Advent International.
ON MY RADAR
If hetero relationships are so bad, why do women go back for more? The Cut
The new marriage of unequals The Atlantic
Does the Knot have a ‘fake brides’ problem? The New Yorker
PARTING WORDS
“I never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It’s more so what I can put out performance-wise and I really met my expectations on that part today.”
— Alysa Liu on becoming the first American woman to win a figure skating world title in 19 years
