Team Q&A: Alejandro Sanchez

I was born and raised in Barcelona and started working from the age of 18. My first job was as a telecommunications technician and, ever since, I’ve continued to combine my work with studies and learning to keep up with this constantly fascinating industry. 
 
My passion for computer security goes back a long time, probably to when I first began working with Unix environments in early days of my career. In my personal life, I like to spend my free time with my two children and my wife – and we particularly enjoy travel and cycling.

At Neo, I am responsible for the management and evolution of our cybersecurity programme. This includes ensuring the availability, confidentiality and integrity of our clients’ data. Compliance is also crucial – for us and for our clients – so we make sure that our programme continually adheres to all of the relevant global and regional standards, regulations and certifications. 

That’s a difficult question as there are so many different qualities that can make a good leader and it’s very personal to each individual. For me, I’ve boiled it down to three core attributes – the first of which is empathy, which I think is vital to keep the team cohesive. It’s important to understand how each team member feels when working on a project to make sure they are fulfilled in their role and also to help manage the impact of any new policy sensitively. 
 
Added to this, I think co-ordination and prioritisation skills are essential to keep projects running and to deliver according to the agreed plan. And finally, communication is an all-round necessity, whether working with colleagues, clients or peers across the industry. 

Prior to Neo, I worked in IT security for over a decade and I’ve seen how the cybersecurity sector and needs of businesses have evolved dramatically. With new tactics and vulnerabilities emerging all the time, the threat from attacks continues to rise – and this applies equally to treasury teams, which must ensure the security of customer data, identities and transactions. 

I think that many of the treasury services as we know them today have a very clear expiration date – and this has been accelerated by the pandemic. As a result, we’re going to see more companies change their current treasury models and adopt centralised online tools. This modernisation is not a new trend as such, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that making the shift is delivering far greater ease and speed in daily operations – reducing both the complexities and overall costs. 
 
With the advent of globalisation, digital transformation and cloud adoption, it is increasingly common for small companies to operate across multiple regions. Therefore, it will be a necessity for these companies to adopt modular treasury services that can adapt both to the customer requirements and to the different regulations and standards of the countries in which they operate.