Our Top Management
Board Independence Statement
We have 11 board members including 2 alternate directors.
According to the criteria defined by the Chilean legislature, out of the 11 directors, 7 are independent See here for more details. If considering the Dow Jones Corporate Sustainability Assessment criteria for Board independence, 10 Board members qualify as independent.
Other positions of note: Among the 11 members of Banco Santander Chile's board of directors, only three of them have mandates on other boards of companies listed on the Stock Exchange either in Chile or abroad: Rodrigo Echeñique with 2 mandates besides Santander Chile, and Blanca Bustamante with 1 mandate besides Santander Chile.
Our Directors

Claudio Melandri became the Executive Chairman on March 1, 2018. He is also President of Santander Chile Holding S.A. and Vice President of Universia Chile S.A. He has more than 30 years of experience in the financial industry and was Chief Executive Officer of Santander Chile from January 2010 to March 2018. He started his career in Banco Concepción and in 1990 became part of Santander Group, where he has held various positions of responsibility, including Regional Manager of the branch network, Human resources Manager and Commercial Banking Manager. He was also Vice President at Banco Santander Venezuela for three years in the commercial area of this country. Mr. Melandri has a Business Degree and an Accounting degree and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Adolfo Ibañez University




Rodrigo Echeñique became a Director in March 2019. He has been part of the Santander Group Board of Directors since 1988. From 1973 to 1976 he held several positions in the Spanish Public Administration (General Secretary of the Post and Telecommunications Office, Technical Advisor in the Office of the Spanish Prime Minister and other positions in the Spanish Tax Authority offices in Pontevedra and Madrid). Mr. Echenique served as chief executive officer of Banco Santander, S.A. from 1988 to 1994. He served on the boards of several industrial and financial companies such as Ebro Azúcares y Alcoholes, S.A. and Industrias Agrícolas, S.A. and chaired the advisory board of Accenture, S.A. Mr Echenique was also a non-executive chairman of NH Hotels Group, S.A., Vocento, S.A., Vallehermoso, S.A. and Merlin Properties, SOCIMI, S.A. He has also been non-executive chairman of Banco Popular Español, S.A. He currently is non-executive director at Inditex. Mr. Echeñique has a graduate degree in Law and State Attorney from Universidad Complutense in Madrid and serves as chairman of the board of trustees and the executive committee of the Banco Santander Foundation.


María Olivia Recart is a commercial Engineer with a major in Economics from the University of Concepción and a Master of Arts in Economics from Georgetown. She has more than 25 years of experience in public policies, R&D, senior management of companies and non-profit organizations. She spent 16 years at Fundación Chile, and then served as undersecretary in the Ministry of Finance (2006-2010). At the end of 2010, she assumed as vice president of corporate affairs for the region of the Americas of the Australian mining company BHP and between 2019 and 2023 she was National Chancellor of the Santo Tomás University (UST). She is member of the Women’s Community Council, director of CAP and Aclara.


Committee membership
Below is a summary of our committee structure and membership information. To read more about any of the committees, click on committee names in the chart below.
Retributions Committee | Directors & Audit Committee | Asset & Liability & Market Committee | Integral Risk Committee | Appointment Committee | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Claudio Melandri | Retributions Committee | Asset & Liability Committee | Risk Committee | Appointment Committee | |
Rodrigo Vergara | Director & Audit Committee | Asset & Liability Committee | Appointment Committee | ||
Orlando Poblete Iturrate | Retributions Committee | Director & Audit Committee | |||
Lucia Santa Cruz Sutil | Risk Committee | ||||
Félix de Vicente Mingo | Director & Audit Committee | Asset & Liability Committee | Risk Committee | ||
Ana Dorrego | |||||
Rodrigo Echenique | |||||
Blanca Bustamante Bravo | Risk Committee | Appointment Committee | |||
Juan Pedro Santa María Pérez | Director & Audit Committee | Risk Committee | |||
Alfonso Gomez Morales | Retributions Committee | Asset & Liability Committee | Risk Committee | ||
María Olivia Recart | Asset & Liability Committee | Risk Committee |
Constant review of the policy documentation regarding the evaluation and remuneration of positions defined as “key positions”, as well as other members of the organization.
To oversee the financial statements elaboration process of the Bank as well as the corresponding management of internal and external auditors, in order to provide adequate and accurate information for shareholders, investors and the general public
Asset & Liability & Market Committee
Be aware of and approve, as the case may be, the risks and positions taken and managed by the financial management area of the Bank and its subsidiaries in Chile. Also, this committee exposes and analyzes the main economic and risk factors that directly impact the results of the trading portfolios.
To propose the risk framework and the general policies necessary for the definition of the Bank’s risk appetite, and to supervise the correct identification, measurement and control of all risks faced by the company.
Constant review and implementation of policies and processes for the appointment of positions defined as key positions, along with the revision and with regard to other members of the organization.
Senior Management

Román Blanco became the Country Head and Chief Executive Officer of the bank in August 2022. Román has 18 years of experience in the Group, which he joined in 2004 as Vice President of Banco Santander Banespa in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was assigned the task of strengthening the Group’s presence in this market. In 2007, he was appointed president and CEO of Santander in Colombia, whose strategy led to significant value creation for Santander in that country. In 2012, he assumed the same responsibilities in Puerto Rico, and later was appointed as the CEO of Santander Bank, NA and Santander Holdings in Boston, United States. He was currently responsible for the Santander Group's operations in the Andean region and Uruguay. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Santander Uruguay, Santander Peru and Santander Colombia.
He has been part of Grupo Santander since 1996, having led the teams of Investment Funds, Structured Financing, Personal Banking, Personal Products, Company Products and Retail Risks, Costs and Suppliers. Mr. Avila has a Civil Engineering degree with specialization in Electricity and and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Católica de Chile.
She joined Santander Chile in November 2022. She has held various positions within the organization, including Select and High Income Segment Manager, Medium and Mass Income Manager, Commercial Assistant Manager in the Mortgage Area, and Marketing and Complementary Channels Manager at Banefe. Between 2018 and 2022 she was at Scotiabank, where she was responsible for the Retail, Data Analytics and VP of Distribution segments. Ms. Heimpell is a Business Engineer from Finis Terrae University, AMP from Universidad de los Andes and IESE Business School-Universidad de Navarra and holds a Diploma in Strategic Leadership from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Cristian Florence is our General Counsel, a position he has held since September 2012. Prior to that he served as Chief Lawyer at Santander-Chile. Mr. Florence joined Santander-Chile in 2002 when Santander-Chile merged with Banco Santiago. He started working in the banking industry in 1991, when he joined Centrobanco, a predecessor of Banco O’Higgins and Banco Santiago serving at several positions in the law departments. Mr. Florence is also a Director of Zurich Santander Seguros Generales Chile S.A., Zurich Santander Seguros de Vida Chile S.A. and Santander Asset Management S.A. Administradora General de Fondos. He has a degree in Law from the Universidad Gabriela Mistral and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the same university and is a professor of Civil Law.
Oscar Gómez is Director of Internal Audit a position he has held since January 2020. He has worked for Grupo Santander since 1997 in different positions in the Internal Audit Division, including the Corporate Director for Financial Risk Information. Mr. Gómez has a degree in Economic and Business Science from Universidad de Cantabria and is certified by the IIA (Institute of Internal Auditors) as CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) and CRMA (Certification in Risk Management Assurance), additionally, he has completed post graduate studies in Instituto de Empresa (Spain) and INSEAD (France).
Jorge Valencia became the Director of Wealth Management and Insurance (WM&I) in November 2021. He joined the Group in 2016 at SCIB as head of Global Markets and was later in charge of Banking and Corporate Finance. During his more than 25-year career, he has held various positions of responsibility at JPMorgan, Platinum Grove Asset Management, RBS and AFP Habitat. Jorge is an Economist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile and Master of Arts in Corporate Communications from the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez.