Mark V. Smetanin

Unlock Success for Airbnb and Short-Term Rental Business. Recently by Improving the Product - Increased Engagement by 42% , conversion rate by 74%, and acquired 2.5M new users.

As a product management leader with over eight years of experience in payments, e-commerce, Airbnb business, property management, I am a fan of technology and its application to drive business growth.My expertise lies in product management, agile coaching, portfolio management, and strategic planning.I have experience in increasing user engagement, optimizing technical processes and leading high-performance teams.

Key Highlights:

Director of Product Management: Enhanced user engagement by 16% and improved product value description by 14% through strategic market research and collaboration.

Senior Product Portfolio Manager: Managed a $1.2M project, leading to an $8M revenue projection and a 17% increase in Net Promoter Score. 
Risk assessment methods were applied, which reduced project disruptions by 24%.

Head of Product Strategy: Increased customer engagement by 42%, improved conversion rates by 74%, and acquired 2.5M new users—reduced marketing expenses by 28% by addressing critical pain points.

Skills and Expertise:

Product Management/Product Owner: Agile Frameworks, Scrum, Kanban, SAFe
Technical Proficiency: Jira, Asana, Hubspot, Salesforce
Industry Expertise: Fintech, E-commerce, Property Management, Vacation Rentals
Certifications: PMI-ACP, PMI-PMP, CSM, CSPO

Professional Experience:

Nine years in product management, agile transformation, and strategic planning
I have experience in leading cross-functional teams to deliver high performance products.
Skilled in negotiating and managing key partnerships and stakeholders

Interests:

The God's Flow State, Coffee, Stand-up comedy, Kite surfing, Skiing, Music, martial arts (2 black belts), Reading, and Hiking.

Technology Stack:

Jira, Jira Service Desk, Hubspot, Asana, Zoho Projects, Microsoft Project, Basecamp, ClickUp, Todoist, PipelineCRM, Freedcamp, Hive, Monday, Trello, Time tracker, Pivotal Tracker, Slack,Excel, Powerpoint, MS Sharepoint, MS Visio, MS Project, MS Access, Prezzi, Numbers, Pages, Photoshop, Lightroom, Planview, Linux, FreeBSD, Quality Center, ZohoCRM, ZenDesk, Zoho Desk, Fresh Desk, Vivantio Help Desk, FreshService, Salesforce Service Cloud, Hootsuite, WordPress, HTML, CSS, OBS, Mindmaps, Focus Matrix, Dropbox Paper, Skitch, Insightly CRM, Payment Gates (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Square, Braintree, Stripe, Paypal, Authorize.net, 2checkout, Payoneer, Bitpay, Shopify Payments), Google Analytics, Google Search Tool, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, MCP, Rentals United, Avirato, Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO, PMS, Glovebox, Coterie, Risk Advisor, AWS, Crowe CRM, Salesforc

Lead Product Manager / Product Owner / Consultant

•     Improved a Product using a customer journey map, understanding and prioritizing the most critical pain points in the most profitable segment. Provided clear concept and design strategy. Collaborated with Dev and UX teams. Increased customer engagement by 226%, Improved conversion rate by 74%, and acquired 2.5M, new users.

•     Planned and facilitated an extraordinary spike for (AI) Artificial Intelligence tools and prompts. Fixed and resolved seven major issues when team members just felt stuck. 

•     Raised team confidence after the last check-in. Positive emotions and gratitude are on our happiness radar. The current sprint is 100% happiness VS 78% at the previous sprint. 

•     Organized the most efficient communication with stakeholders and implemented advanced product backlog refinement, reducing the backlog by 16%.

•    Stepped forward with special coaching from our Unique Coach and very advanced Scum Master. Differentiated workflow steps, business rule variations, variations in data, and interface variations, polished and deepened INVEST criteria. Dramatically improved the slicing of our vertical stories. Delivered value ~20% faster with the smallest increments to our customers. 

•   Implemented automated test script, additional smoke test after the build is released to QA, and code review by peers. Armed new Definition of Done (DOD) for our dev team. Changed Sprint Planning Agenda. Raised team confidence level in delivering the sprint goals to 94%. 

•    Implemented automated test script and code review by peers. Armed new Definition of Done (DOD) for our dev team. 

•     Collected the data via Web-tracking and customer interviews,  tested and validated assumptions with the development team. Provided much precise anatomy of personas. Redesigned current marketing campaign reducing waist by 28%

Spikes:
Sustainable and environmentally conscious business practices
Enterprise Agile: Changing your culture

Ferrovial

Chief Information & Innovation Officer

Executive Technology Board

The Executive Technology Board is an independent Think Tank of 180+ C-level technology leaders from Fortune 500/1000 global corporations.

Board Member

Forbes Advisor

Member of Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only global community for senior technology leaders. I collaborate with global industry experts to drive innovation and shape the future of technology. Through my participation, I contribute thought leadership, engage in expert panels, and expand my network within the tech industry.

-

Technology Council Advisory Member

The Wall Street Journal

CIO Network Member

CIONET

CIONET is the leading community of senior digital and IT executives around the world. With a membership of CIOs, CDOs, CTOs and IT leaders from the world’s leading companies, CIONET has the expertise and pioneering vision to solve or address any digital or IT management challenge. CIONET develops, manages, and moderates a next-generation community and platform with an integrated array of both offline and online tools and services designed to provide real-time support for digital and IT executives.

Advisory Board President

CIONET is the largest independent community of digital leaders globally, with a membership of over 10,000 CIOs, CTOs, CDOs and CPOs across Europe, North American, LATAM and Australia.

Fundación Innovación Bankinter

The Future Trends Forum is the only international, multidisciplinary think tank focused on innovation. 

Made up of more than 600 experts, the FTF anticipates the future by detecting trends in innovation and analyzing their impact on our society and business models. 

Web: https://www.fundacionbankinter.org/en

Advisory Board Member

Cross Innovation Strategy Group

Web: www.crossinnovation.org

Utilizing cross innovation methods and embracing a wide diversity of thought, generate ideas and strategies on how to effectively and sustainably restart the economy and allow people to return to work while minimizing the further negative impact on their health and wellness.

The mandate of the Group is to ideate, co-create, and come up with solutions intended to improve our respective predicaments during the sweeping challenge of COVID-19.  The underlying assumption of those deliberations was straightforward: The world will never be the same post-COVID-19. 1st. report : NEVER  NORMAL

Deputy Executive Chairman

Future Travel Experience

EIT Digital

EIT Digital is a leading European digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organization driving Europe’s digital transformation. 

Its way of working embodies the future of innovation through a pan-European ecosystem of over 200 top European corporations, SMEs, start-ups, universities and research institutes, where students, researchers, engineers, business developers and entrepreneurs collaborate in an open innovation setting. 

This pan-European ecosystem is located in Amsterdam, Berlin, Braga, Budapest, Brussels, Eindhoven, Edinburgh, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Milano, Munich, Nice, Paris, Rennes, Stockholm, Trento, and San Francisco.

Supervisory Board Member

Aviation Festival 

Dimitris Bountolos is a visionary C-level executive with over two decades of experience driving growth and success for organizations in various industries. 

As Chief Information & Innovation Officer for Ferrovial, he leads the company's efforts to adopt innovative technologies and sustainable practices for continued growth and diversification across the energy, mobility, construction, airport, and concession domains.

He has a proven track record of creating and leading high-performing teams and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. 

With a background in entrepreneurship, strategy consulting, and corporate leadership, Dimitris has a deep understanding of how to identify and scale new business opportunities. He has successfully led change management and transformation programs in B2C, B2B, and B2G environments, utilizing technology and digitalization to catalyze reinvention and sustained positive impact.

Dimitris's extensive experience spans several continents, including time as a founder and partner of start-ups in the deep tech domain and management positions in the airline industry as VP of Customer Experience and Madrid Airport Director at Iberia. He also served as Chief Digital Officer of Latam Airlines, senior advisor to NASA's Chief Innovation Officer, and a global advisor for digital transformation in the travel, transportation, and logistics sector at McKinsey.

With a master's degree in Civil Engineering and advanced management education from institutions such as Stanford, ESADE, and IESE, Dimitris is a well-rounded and highly qualified leader. He sits on several advisory boards, including Future Travel Experience, EIT Digital, CIONET, Future Trends Forum, and the CIO Council of WSJ.

Dimitris Bountolos

Today at the #CIO100 annual gala, I was honored to receive the CIO of the Year award.

This institution, with more than four decades of history, recognizes technology leaders creating real impact across three essential pillars: 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 & 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞.

For me, this award represents a new interpretation of the CIO role — one that goes far beyond managing technology. Today’s CIO shapes strategic direction, influences how organizations think and behave, and drives business outcomes through digital capabilities. It’s a role built on curiosity, courage, and the ability to turn complexity into clarity.

I want to thank the jury and the entire organization for this recognition. I also want to congratulate the other finalists, all of them outstanding professionals pushing our industry forward.

And of course, my deepest gratitude to my team. You are the ones who make transformation possible — not by following a script, but by challenging it. By building, experimenting, fixing, breaking, improving, and constantly raising the bar. Every milestone we achieve comes from your talent, your energy, and your belief that change is something we lead, not something we endure.

This recognition is not an end point. It’s a reminder: 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲.

#Leadership #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #CIO100 #TechnologyLeadership #Team Foundry,  Ferrovial , CIO ESPAÑA , CIO Online

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At this point, if you haven’t noticed that Blue Origin just landed its rocket, becoming only the second company in the world after SpaceX to complete a reuse mission… You may be missing one of the most critical signals about where innovation is truly happening.

There’s a lesser-known clip of New Glenn’s Guidance & Control that I keep replaying. What stands out isn’t the noise or the fire—it’s the landing strategy, which is entirely different from Falcon 9: less directional push, almost no lateral drift, and a targeted precision over a floating platform. 

Reusability isn’t a “nice to have.” It reshapes the economics, the cadence of missions, and the pace of learning. When you multiply that effect over years, it becomes difficult to imagine any non-geopolitical or strategic scenario where a fully expendable system—such as Ariane 6—can truly compete.

Systems that learn faster, scale faster. And teams that design for reuse outpace those that build for single shots.

🚀 #Innovation #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #Aerospace #Management #FutureThinking

We start the day with an important confirmation: Ferrovial  is now part of the #Nasdaq100 ®

Being surrounded by companies where technology sits at the core is the result of a strategy started years ago. A deliberate choice and commitment to treat digital not as a support function, but as a backbone of the business.

Today, infrastructure is no longer only concrete and steel. It’s data. It’s software. It’s AI enhancing how assets are #designed, #operated, and #maintained.

When intelligence is embedded into infrastructure, it becomes more #sustainable, more #durable, and more #effective. It reflects the society it serves: digital, connected, and demanding better outcomes.

Congratulations to every team member and partner who made this possible. Achievements like this are never accidental. They are built step by step, decision by decision.

We keep moving forward. 🚀

https://ow.ly/LNHT50XILAR

💡 Siempre he creído que los rankings —especialmente aquellos fundamentados en datos— son solo una fotografía parcial de una realidad mucho más rica, compleja y llena de matices. Aun así, verme situado en el primer lugar en España dentro de este ranking de LinkedIn es un reconocimiento que recibo con especial ilusión. 💫 🥇 

Para mí, aparecer liderando el colectivo de CIOs/CDOs no habla tanto de la visibilidad o del volumen de contenido, sino del valor que una comunidad es capaz de construir colectivamente. La #difusión, la #interacción y el #compromiso que se generan alrededor de cada conversación representan, en el fondo, un intercambio continuo de aprendizajes individuales y colectivos al mismo tiempo. Esta posición es un recordatorio de cuánto he recibido de todos vosotros y de mi voluntad de devolver, al menos en parte, ese aprendizaje compartido. 👏 

El ecosistema digital y de innovación en el que nos movemos es, por naturaleza, dinámico. Cambian las referencias, evolucionan las preguntas y emergen nuevos desafíos que redefinen nuestras decisiones. La transformación —#personal, #profesional y #organizacional— no es una opción; es la condición necesaria para seguir siendo relevantes y competitivos.

Mi intención es continuar compartiendo con una audiencia cada vez más curiosa los retos, las oportunidades y las reflexiones que van moldeando el futuro tan dinámico y cambiante al que nos enfrentamos. Ojalá pueda seguir estando a la altura de esa conversación colectiva que tanto nos inspira.

Gracias a todos por formar parte de este camino y al resto de los reconocidos, todos ellos grandes profesionales que en ese ranking avanzamos conjuntamente por esa esa senda común.

Esto no es una carrera, mas bien una cruzada colectiva. 🚶 🚶‍♀️ 

PeopleXBrand Angel Sáenz de Cenzano Jaime Fernández de la Puente-Campano Bernardo Montero Costa

Ranking CIO's, CDO's y Chief Information Officer's en Linkedin | España 2025
 
💡 La transformación digital no solo depende de la tecnología, sino del liderazgo que la impulsa.

Por eso en PeopleXBrand, con nuestra herramienta Scoringmy.com, continuamos ampliando nuestro análisis de visibilidad directiva con un nuevo ranking dedicado a quienes están liderando la innovación, los datos y la estrategia tecnológica en sus organizaciones.
 
📊 Presentamos el Top 25, una selección basada en su visibilidad, coherencia y capacidad para generar impacto desde LinkedIn.
 
👉 Estos son los profesionales que marcan la diferencia:

1. Dimitris Bountolos de Ferrovial
2. Carlos Garcia Trillo de GAES
3. Jordi Martínez Barranco de CONFIDENCIAL
4. Enrique Monzonis Leno de Eroski
5. Sebas Muriel de Telefónica
6. David Moral Inglada de Compañía del Trópico
7. Stewart Masters de Honest Greens
8. David Maján Amigo de DDB
9. Ángela Valcárcel Segura de Accem
10. Manu Delgado Nieto de Groupe AFFLELOU
11. Jaime López Ostio de FAES FARMA
12. Leire Jiménez Ayesa de MAPFRE
13. Jose Garcia Pacheco de astara
14. Quique Aparisi Rico de JOSE LUIS Joyerías
15. Carles Sanz Casañas de Moventia
16. Alvaro Ontanon de MERLIN Properties
17. Ivan Bofarull de Esade
18. Pedro Galdon de Emasa
19. Jacobo Zelada Alvarez de Mon de APPLE TREE
20. Francisco José Magallón Barreiro (Kiko) de Grow

👏 Enhorabuena a todos y todas. Estáis demostrando cómo la comunicación del líder tecnológico impulsa reputación, innovación y cultura digital.
 
#PeopleXBrand #Scoringmy #Ranking #CIO #CDO #Innovación #TransformaciónDigital #Liderazgo #LinkedIn #Reputación

I don’t know about you, but I get flooded every single day with reports on artificial intelligence.

Here are a dozen of the latest ones worth saving:

🧭 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲

 1️⃣ Accenture – The Art of AI Maturity
 https://lnkd.in/ekzJpcDK

2️⃣ Boston Consulting Group (BCG) – Where’s the Value in AI
 https://lnkd.in/eCPH9n5N

3️⃣ McKinsey & Company – Executive AI Playbook
 https://lnkd.in/e7ht2fPt

4️⃣ Microsoft – CIO GenAI Playbook
 https://lnkd.in/e2-uFJjX

5️⃣ Bain & Company – Transforming CX with AI
 https://lnkd.in/gqq-66ST

6️⃣ Deloitte – State of AI in the Enterprise
 https://lnkd.in/gGNURxzq

7️⃣ Stanford University – AI Index Report
 https://lnkd.in/ex2xckf3

8️⃣ Amazon – AI/ML/GenAI Cloud Framework
 https://lnkd.in/gbmUAgQT

9️⃣ IBM – CEO’s Guide to GenAI
 https://lnkd.in/gqDam-yS

💾 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 & 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

 🔟 Google – Cloud AI Adoption Framework
 https://lnkd.in/e6bKZqwA

🛡 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤

 1️⃣1️⃣ National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – AI Risk Management Framework
 https://lnkd.in/eR7xW8MH

1️⃣2️⃣ World Economic Forum – AI Leadership Toolkit
 https://lnkd.in/eSVQsEpG

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥.

We are all obsessed with the "Smartest Model" race. Who has the highest IQ? Who hallucinates less? Who codes better?

The real moat is controlling the entire value chain. From the silicon chip in the server to the device in your pocket. Google has been quietly building what It can be called the "Full-Stack Advantage." While the market reacts to every new chatbot release, they are playing the long game of vertical integration.

To win this race, it will be needed more than just a Frontier Model. It will be required the full set:

✅ 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧 (owning the compute costs)
✅ 𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 (owning the data center)
✅ 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 (owning the talent)
✅ 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 (owning the delivery)
✅ 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞 (owning the data)

We are moving away from a "Model War" to an "Ecosystem War." The winner won’t be the one with the smartest LLM; it will be the one who frictionlessly integrates that intelligence into the hardware, software, and daily habits of billions.

A couple of days ago, I was in New York with the team reviewing the progress of the systems and technology rollout at #JFK near future Terminal 1. 

Watching a terminal slowly come alive is both exciting and stressful — it’s like seeing a complex organism take its first breaths.

This time, the journey started at the 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 subway station, where our screens remind New Yorkers of Ferrovial ’s commitment to 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. A simple message, but one that frames everything we do: developing  and building the backbone that keeps cities and people moving.

In moments like these, you realize that real transformation doesn’t happen in a single milestone. It happens in layers — in every #cable pulled, every #system tested, every #decision made with purpose.

Infrastructure may be massive, but progress is always built one detail at a time.

We’ve all seen matrices like this one—𝐔𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐬. 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭, neatly organized into nine boxes. They look solid. Rational. Familiar. And yet… today I find myself questioning them.

Why?. Because the world that shaped these frameworks no longer exists.
For years, prioritization was a simple equation: you had limited human capacity, so you had to choose carefully. But something fundamental has shifted. Our “capacity” is no longer limited to human hours or human cognition.

Today, 1H + 1H = 2, but 1H + 1A > 2 — where H is a Human and A is an AI agent capable of carrying real cognitive load.

This breaks the old logic. It forces us to rethink what “urgent” and “important” even mean when part of the work can be #offloaded, #accelerated, or entirely #reimagined.

It’s not that frameworks like this are useless—they’re just incomplete. They were built for a world where delegation meant a bigger #team, more #budget, or more #meetings. Now, delegation can mean something entirely different: handing tasks to an intelligent system that works in parallel, doesn’t wait until Monday, and doesn’t need a reminder.

So the real challenge isn’t fitting our tasks into nine boxes. It’s about redesigning the boxes themselves. The leaders who thrive in the next decade won’t just prioritize differently. They will think differently—treating AI not as a tool but as an additional mind in the room, reshaping how decisions, workloads, and strategic focus come together.

Maybe the question is no longer “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭?”
Perhaps it’s “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥?”

💡 A 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 shift in 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.
💡 A 𝐛𝐢𝐠 shift in 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭.

The number of AI launches and announcements this week has been remarkable. Microsoft  unveiled its new Frontier approach. Google  pushed out Gemini Pro 3. OpenAI  released 5.1. And, in parallel, Meta  opened up SAM 3D, a model that can turn our 2D world into 3D.

Beyond the headlines, something deeper is happening.

We’re getting closer to interacting with AI systems that understand the physical world—not just data on a screen. That shift matters. It brings us nearer to a moment where robotics adoption accelerates, and where we can simulate and plan reality itself.

Imagine building digital twins not from static designs, but from live observation. A phygital layer—where the physical and digital merge—becomes the foundation for decision-making, forecasting, and design.

We’re not there yet. But the direction is clear, and the pace is accelerating.

The challenge is no longer to “stay updated.” It’s to rethink how we operate when the boundary between digital and physical becomes almost invisible.

🔴The opportunity is massive.
🔵The mindset shift is mandatory.

And the future feels a little closer this week.

𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐆𝐞𝐡𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝.

A legacy defined not only by his buildings, but by the way he expanded the meaning of #form, #materials, and fluid #assembly. He didn’t just design structures—he reshaped the emotional and cultural weight of the spaces we share.

Gehry redefined deconstructivism, turning it into a force capable of transforming entire urban ecosystems. His projects often became catalysts of something larger than architecture. They triggered new energy, new identity, and a renewed sense of collective ambition.

We say goodbye to an artist who understood how to elevate function into purpose. Someone who could revive neglected spaces, reimagine their role, and build a rare sense of consensus around bold ideas.

At Ferrovial, we look back with respect and gratitude. Our collaboration with Gehry—first with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and later with the Marqués de Riscal winery—challenged us in ways that shaped who we are.

To deliver such a disruptive vision, we had to rethink our approach and adopt tools that didn’t yet exist for building 3D infrastructure. CATIA was one of them. That step changed not only the project but our mindset.

When the vision is big enough, you don't downgrade the dream to fit the tools. You upgrade the tools to fit the dream. Gehry leaves us a perpetual footprint. He taught us that the "impossible" is often just an engineering problem waiting for a braver solution.

#Leadership #Innovation #Architecture #UrbanTransformation #Mindset #DigitalTransformation #DesignThinking

Frank Gehry: A Posthumos Tribute to a Visionary Architect

Remember these concepts—next year they will be at the center of many conversations. I’m sharing a summary inspired by the latest #a16z article on the “Big Ideas” for 2026.

1️⃣ 𝐀𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 
Automating repetitive tasks to amplify expert impact.

2️⃣ 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭-𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 
Architectures built for massive, continuous agent workloads.

3️⃣ 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬: 
Unified control over video, audio, image, and motion creation.

4️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈-𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤: 
Data infrastructure redesigned for real-time, AI-first operations.

5️⃣ 𝐈𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨:
Video becomes an interactive, navigable, and editable environment.

6️⃣ 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲: 
Autonomous workflow engines replace traditional systems of record.

7️⃣ 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐈 𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫: 
Domain-specific agents collaborate, negotiate, and co-create.

8️⃣ 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 
Interfaces built for machines—not humans—to consume and act on.

9️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧-𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐊𝐏𝐈𝐬: 
Engagement shifts from time spent to outcomes achieved.

Big Ideas 2026 

𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐯𝐬. 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐡: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬

I recently saw a video from China that is the perfect metaphor for the state of modern business. The scene is striking: Farmers blocking a high-tech autonomous delivery vehicle on a rural road.

🟡 𝐖𝐡𝐲? 

Because, by tradition, they spread their seeds on the warm asphalt to dry in the sun. They were blocking the future to protect the harvest of today. It creates a powerful image of Change Management.

The farmers are fighting with perseverance. They are terrified the vehicle will crush their seeds. But in focusing on the tires, they miss the tsunami. The technology driving that vehicle won't just "step" on their seeds. Eventually, it will likely automate their entire labor.

🔴 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐱."

How often do we see this in our own corporate environments? We expend massive energy fighting the inevitable impact of change (the robot on the road). We try to protect legacy processes (the seeds) because "that’s how we’ve always done it."

Every transformation — technological or cultural — ultimately succeeds or fails in the transition phase. Not in the moment of disruption, but in how people adapt.

The robot is coming through. You cannot stop the vehicle.
The real leadership challenge isn't about blocking the road. It’s about figuring out how to own the fleet.

💡 Are you busy protecting the seeds, or are you preparing to drive?

#Leadership #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #ChangeManagement #CEOMindset #Leadership #Innovation #ChangeManagement #FutureOfWork #Strategy

𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧—𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞.

In the past, understanding the physical world meant observing it, measuring it, and trying to explain it. Today, we’re starting to decode it.

AI is giving us something new: the ability to read patterns in the physical world that we couldn’t previously see, not just at the human scale, but at the atomic and sub-atomic level.

Invisible rules are becoming visible. Behaviours we couldn’t describe are becoming predictable. And here’s the shift: 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝… 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞-𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭.

The real race ahead isn’t about who uses AI faster. It’s about who learns to interpret the hidden logic of the world around us. Because once you can read the code behind reality, you can start to shape it.

#Innovation #AI #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #FutureThinking #CEOmindset

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