Pablo Isla's radical shift: From controlling Inditex to producing two series about the CNI

Pablo Isla Álvarez de Tejada (Madrid, 1964) has just completed 3 years away from Inditex. Currently, the former CEO of the textile company has a favorite, the food giant Nestlé, which he vice-chairs. Meanwhile, his other favorite is his television production company Fonte Films, where his son Santiago works. The same son who has just ironically portrayed the posh Madrid world he claims to belong to in the novel "The Man of My Life" (Círculo de Tiza).

Isla senior's hustle is such that he has just resigned from the presidency of the Spanish renewable energy group Amara NZero.

Intelligence

Fonte Films is preparing 2 ambitious series for Prime Video and Movistar Plus that will revolve around the world of espionage. For Prime Video, they have filmed the thriller "Zeta" in Galicia. Dani de la Torre directs this project about four former Spanish intelligence officers who are murdered simultaneously in different embassies around the world.

The CNI discovers that they all participated 35 years ago in an operation in Colombia in which the fifth intelligence officer, the only one who escaped the assassins, was involved. Finding him will be the first objective for the CNI, which puts its best member in charge of the mission: Zeta, played by Casas.

The day-to-day of the Spanish Intelligence body will be the protagonist of "El Centro" on Movistar Plus+. Juan Diego Botto leads the cast of this series created by David Moreno, directed by David Ulloa, and with a script by David Moreno, Raúl López, and Eva Saiz.

Fonte Films

Isla surrounded himself to launch Fonte Films with showrunner Diego Sotelo (screenwriter of "Los protegidos," "Bajo sospecha," "Fariña," "En el corredor de la muerte," or "El Inmortal"). Also with Carla Pérez de Albéniz (former head of the production area of Originales Movistar Plus+), and María Jesús Román (founding partner-director of the MRG Abogados law firm). Not to mention his son Santiago, a creative at the production company.

Fonte Films' first work was the adaptation for Atresmedia Televisión of the novel "La sombra de la tierra," written and directed by actress Elvira Mínguez. It also signed the docuseries "Mugaritz" for Movistar Plus+.

Isla is not returning to textiles, for now

Several major clothing brands would "kill" to have Pablo Isla on their board of directors, as he enjoys extraordinary prestige in the sector. This is thanks to the 16 years he remained at the helm of Inditex, which bid him farewell in March 2022 in exchange for a severance package of 22.9 million euros.

This State lawyer suffered a non-compete clause that prevented him from joining any rival of Zara's parent company. But this provision expired last year.

It is not clear whether Amancio Ortega's former right-hand man wants to return to the textile industry, but it is evident that Isla doesn't want to focus solely on the sector that made him famous globally. In recent times, this businessman has diversified his work into various businesses.

One of them is the food arm of Nestlé. Isla has also relaunched Tilo Inversiones Iberia, converted into a venture capital company. This company finances emerging companies in the growth phase, with high potential and risk, aiming to find a "unicorn" (start-ups with million-dollar valuations without being listed on the stock exchange).

The executive joined the German audiovisual giant Bertelsmann, owner of the German group RTL and a key shareholder of Atresmedia. He also joined as an advisor to the American General Atlantic to offer his advice to the company's investment teams.

Isla's new life

The decision of Amancio Ortega to bet on blood by choosing his daughter Marta as his successor removed Isla from Inditex. The 60-year-old executive had accepted a challenge: to chair Telefónica if Alberto Núñez Feijóo reached La Moncloa, as reported by Elcierredigital.com.

Conversations between the PP leader and the former general director of Inditex are frequent. They are so despite the fact that the departure of Feijóo's wife (Eva Cárdenas) from the textile company was not as idyllic as presumed.

Isla left Arteixo and rejected the siren calls coming from Génova 13 to become the economic right-hand man of Alberto Núñez Feijóo if he reached La Moncloa.

He also let himself be courted by companies and boards of all kinds. In 2022, he became president of the International Advisory Board of IE University. He remained in cultural institutions such as the Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum, the Royal Theater of Madrid, and the La Caixa Foundation.