Joaquín Sánchez-Rex joins Kudzu Partners today as CEO.
He comes from general management, with a track record in two worlds that rarely meet. In industry he was CEO of Aurum Process Technology (2017–2021), where he led the business's turnaround to profitability. In education he has fifteen years behind him: director of institutional development and international relations at La Salle Barcelona, managing director of UNIR in Mexico, and managing director of the Fundación Universidad Empresa de la Región de Murcia, where he drove the affiliation with the region's public university and the award of international accreditations. He holds an MBA and a PADE from IESE.
That last point explains much of the decision. Earning an international accreditation from inside an institution means proving learning with evidence, which is exactly the problem Kudzu Partners has spent ten years on from the other side of the table. The company's new CEO has sat in its clients' chair.
Joaquim Virgili, the company's founder, stays on as a partner and keeps the relationship with the long-standing accounts and the leadership of product. The handover follows a decision taken well in advance: after ten years, the company is adding an executive management layer dedicated to execution and operating cadence, with a division of decisions agreed between founder and CEO.
The hard part of founding something is not starting it. It is accepting, with the data in front of you, that from here on you are not the one who grows it best.
— Joaquim Virgili, founder of Kudzu Partners
Kudzu Partners works with more than fifty universities and business schools across Europe and Latin America, with teams in Barcelona and Medellín.
Welcome, Joaquín.
