The former Minister of Consumption and former federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida (IU), Alberto Garzón, plans to join the public affairs consultancy Acento, directed by the former Minister of Health Alfonso Alonso (PP) and the former Minister of Development José Blanco (PSOE). According to the aforementioned firm, Garzón will join the consulting firm before Easter and will assume the direction of geopolitical prospective.
José Blanco, founder and CEO of Acento, “celebrates Alberto's incorporation into the consulting firm,” and believes that “he will enhance diversity and perspective to enrich the service to clients.” Furthermore, the former socialist leader alleges that “we live in unique times that require the widest possible angle.”
Garzón's move to the corporation founded by Blanco occurs three months after announcing his farewell to the political front line. He himself revealed it in a letter to the IU militancy after the formation of the current coalition government between the PSOE and Sumar. As Minister of Consumption under the mandate of President Pedro Sánchez, he was a representative of Unidas Podemos in the first coalition government of Spain, integrated into the social vice presidency, led first by Pablo Iglesias and then by Yolanda Diaz, in the last stage.
The figure of Garzón emerged publicly in the 15-M mobilizations in 2011, and arrived for the first time in the Congress of Deputies after the general elections of that year. Very soon he succeeded Cayo Lara at the head of the IU coordination and led the unity of the left bloc with Unidas Podemos in 2016 and with Sumar in 2022.
With his farewell to the political front line, Garzón left behind five consecutive terms as a deputy and his responsibility as head of IU, where he remained for eight years.
The signing of Garzón by Acento is announced days after it was learned that David Cierco Jiménez de Parga has also joined the public affairs consultancy as director in the Madrid office. Cierco, an expert in economics and technology and with significant experience in the corporate and institutional world, has been the CEO of Red.es, the digitalization aid organization dependent on the Ministry of Economy; Patron of the Mobile World Congress Foundation; vice president of the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE); general director for the Information Society of the Ministry of Industry, and advisor to the National Mint and Stamp Factory.
The consulting firm Acento, founded four years ago by José Blanco, is a leader in Spain in public affairs and has markedly progressive profiles such as the head of the Brussels office, Carlos Villota, or the deputy general director of the consulting firm and former Secretary of Communication of the Generalitat, Miquel Gamisans.
