Beatriz Almendral

Beatriz Almendral is a highly accomplished Program and Project Management Executive Director with an extensive background in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Cybersecurity, and International Law. Holding a PhD "Honoris Causa" in Governance, Risk, and Compliance applied to ICT; she possesses a robust academic foundation including multiple MBAs focused on European Law, Diplomatic Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights. Her expertise is further solidified by a suite of professional certifications; including Project Management Professional (PMI), ITIL Best Practices, European Financial Controller (EPCA), and a specialized training within DORA, the AI EU Act,  ISO27001/02, ISO9001 and the NIS2 Directive frameworks.

Currently serving as a Head of Product Owners in Governance Compliance & Risk Program Management at IBM; Beatriz leads complex SOC 1. & SOC 2. projects, ensuring operational delivery remains within scope, budget, and time constraints while building new Cybersecurity and AI products to mitigate companies' risks. Her career is defined by high-level roles at prestigious global organizations, including serving as a Global Program Manager (Cloud SD-WAN) at Telefonica and a Cloud Partner Program Operations Manager at Google Cloud (Dublin, IE, Headquarters). In these capacities, she has mastered the orchestration of cross-functional teams across the EMEA, AMER, LATAM and JAPAC/APAC, overseeing large-scale digital transformations, Financial Data Migrations, QA procceses, and the implementation of sophisticated SaaS solutions.

Beyond her technical and managerial prowess, Beatriz is a linguistically gifted professional, maintaining native Spanish and English fluency and C-level proficiency in French, and Italian, alongside conversational Portuguese. This allows her to lead International Live Enablement Sessions, translate complex technical manuals, and manage stakeholder relationships across diverse Global Markets. With a proven track record of driving ROI through strategic (CRM) onboarding and retention initiatives at companies like Sage Financials and Salesforce, she combines analytical rigor with a passionate commitment to operational excellence and European regulatory standards. Moreover, she holds a significant two years of academic experience at the University of Salamanca 2012/2014 at the European Studies and Human Rights department - International Legal Relations