The best Chief People Officers are managing directors at heart.

Vanesa Saiz Marugán

People and business transformation executive with Managing Director experience in VC- and PE-backed companies.

How I work

I don't run a function; I run the company through its people. I read the P&L before the org chart, make the call on incomplete information, and own the outcome as if the company were my own.

I join leadership teams with an owner's mindset: I make the decisions that are mine to make, put my name to the outcome, and measure myself by the value of the company, not the size of my function.

Track record

2025 – 2026

Geniova Technologies

Managing Director

Backed by Inveready and CDTI

Redefined the operating and business model to build a leaner, more competitive company around its patented technology.
2024

Zinklar

Operating Partner

Backed by Inveready and Caixa Capital Risc

Led the company-wide reorganization at the core of a turnaround that took EBITDA from negative to positive within a year.
2021 – 2024

Bit2Me

Chief People & Business Transformation Officer

Backed by Inveready, Investcorp and Telefónica

On the executive team through the full cycle: from 70 to 300 people, a restructuring to 120 when the market turned, and a return to sustainable growth through automation and AI, alongside two M&A integrations in a regulated environment.
2016 – 2021

World Mastery and Universal Avenue

Head of Revenue and Spain launch

Teams across 15 countries and monthly recurring revenue from €70,000 to €350,000 in 18 months. Led Universal Avenue's launch in Spain, hiring 60 people in six months.

Today

Since 2022 I have worked as an interim and embedded executive, Operating Partner and mentor to the leadership teams of VC- and PE-backed companies. I step in when the business can't wait for the organization to catch up: scaling, restructuring, integrating an acquisition or rebuilding the operating model, increasingly with AI at its core.