FCC has appointed José Manuel Velasco Guardado as Head of Corporate and Institutional Relations, reporting directly to the Chairman and CEO, Baldomero Falcones.

Asturias-born Velasco, who is 43 years old, has a degree in Information Sciences from Madrid's Complutense University, where he majored in journalism. He is specialised in strategic planning of communications and social responsibility. Velasco recently completed the Advanced Strategic Management (ASM) programme at the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne (Switzerland), which was ranked as the top school for executive education by the Financial Times in April 2008.

Since 2000, Velasco has been Head of Communications at Unión Fenosa, in charge of Media Relations, Corporate Marketing, Internal Communications, Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility. Prior to that he held the same post at Renfe, which he joined after working in journalism in various media in the Principality of Asturias.

Since June 2008, he has been chairman of the Association of Communications Executives (Asociación de Directivos de Comunicación, DIRCOM), a leading professional body with more than 500 members.He teaches Master's degree courses in business and institutional communications at universities and schools in Madrid and Barcelona.