Leadership Team

FACUNDO CASTRO

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Facundo Castro is CEO of Cirion Technologies, a leading provider of digital infrastructure and technology.

Facundo joined the company in 1998, where he held several key roles in many functions across the LATAM business. At Lumen Latin America, he was CFO for more than 10 years, and was named Regional President, before the company became Cirion Technologies.

He also served as Head of Corporate Finance, VP of Planning and Control, and Regional CFO for CenturyLink, Level 3 and Global Crossing in Latin America. He also played a leading role in multiple capital market transactions, including several high-yield offerings, as well as Impsat’s IPO (initial public offering) in February 2000.
Facundo also led the Human Resources organization between 2007 and 2009 and the organization of Service Delivery between 2019 and 2021.

Prior he held a variety of management positions in Palmar, a leading brick manufacturer in Argentina, and at ECCO, an emergency medical company in Cordoba. Likewise, he worked as an Analyst at Fundación Mediterránea, an Argentinean Think Tank.

Facundo Castro holds a Certified Public Accountant degree from the National University of Cordoba, Argentina and an MBA from Columbia Business School where he graduated with honors. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

LEONARDO BARBERO

President, Connectivity

Leonardo Barbero is President of the Connectivity Business Unit at Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

He is responsible for the company’s strategy, investment, and P&L management; the development and strategic management of the Products area, for the planning and implementation of the network and for leveraging the growth of the business in the region.

Barbero joined the company in 1992, holding various positions in the commercial area for different market segments. He became Vice President of Connectivity Services in 2000, then Executive Vice President of Products and Marketing when the company was acquired by Global Crossing in 2007, Level 3 in 2011 and CenturyLink in 2017, rebranded as Lumen in 2020.

Leonardo Barbero is an Electromechanical Engineer, with an Electronic orientation, graduated from Belgrano University. He has a Master of Business Administration from CEMA and an Advanced Executive Program from Kellogg – Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

EMILIO MADERO

EVP, Marketing

Emilio Madero is Marketing, Communications & Sales Operations Executive Vice President for Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

He is responsible for strategic marketing, internal and external communications, sales operations, new business assessment, demand generation and customer experience, leading a group of professionals throughout ten Latin-American countries, to help leverage the profitable business growth throughout the region.

Emilio is an executive with more than 30 years’ experience in marketing within the telecommunications and IT segment. He joined the company in the year 2000 as marketing director for Argentina. With the acquisition of Impsat by Global Crossing in May 2007, he became Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Latin America, a position he held when in October 2011 the company was acquired by Level 3. Later by CenturyLink in 2017 and became Lumen in 2020.Prior to his experience at Impsat, he served as Regional Product and Marketing Manager at Xerox.

Emilio holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE Business School); also graduated from the Management Development Program from the Universidad Austral in Buenos Aires; and in 2010 graduated from the Strategic Marketing Management Program from Harvard Business School.

PABLO HUBAIDE

EVP & CFO

Pablo Hubaide is Executive Vice president and Chief Financial Officer for Cirion Technologies, a leading provider of digital infrastructure and technology.

As leader for the financial organization, his responsibilities include planning and analysis, accounting, management control, treasury, billing and collections, purchasing, supply chain management, and real estate. In addition, he manages capital expenditure prioritization and performance analysis of gross margin and return on investments.

Pablo joined the company in 2001 and held various positions such as Vice President of Planning and Control, Margin Assurance, Purchasing and Supply Chain, Planning Director and Strategic Marketing Manager, as well as other leadership positions in Administration and Audit.

He previously held a variety of positions at PwC, in the Assurance department.

Pablo has a CPA and Business Administration degree from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa and an Executive MBA from IAE Business School. He speaks English and Spanish fluently.

VALERIA PLASTINO

EVP, General Counsel

Valeria Plastino is Executive Vice president, General Counsel and Regional Ethics & Compliance Officer for Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

She has direct responsibility for all legal, regulatory and compliance matters related to Cirion’s operations. She oversees a team of 18 attorneys and 2 regulatory experts located in ten different countries.

Valeria joined the company in 2007, formerly Lumen/CenturyLink, Level 3 and Global Crossing. She brings 25+ years of experience advising multinational companies in the technology and telecom industries regarding business, regulatory, corporate, commercial and compliance matters, as well as in international transactional work in connection with corporate acquisitions and cross-border investments in Latin America. She has also played a key role in the numerous acquisitions through which the company went through in the region (Lumen/CenturyLink, Level 3 Communications and Global Crossing).

Previously, she worked at the Argentine law firm Bruchou, Fernández Madero & Lombardi as corporate attorney, at StarMedia Network Inc. as VP and Associate General Counsel, and until early 2001 she was a Corporate Associate at the international law firm Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Valeria holds law degree from the National University of La Plata School of Law, Argentina, a post-graduate degree in business law from the University of Bologna, Italy and a Master of Law (L.L.M.) Degree in International Legal Studies from New York University School of Law, New York USA. She has also completed the Executive Education Program, “Management Program for Lawyers” at Yale University – Yale School of Management, USA.

She is fluent in Spanish, English and Italian and admitted to practice law in New York State and Buenos Aires Federal District.

LUCIANO PAROLA

EVP, Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Luciano Parola is Executive Vicepresident and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

In his position, Luciano is responsible for the strategic objectives of coordinating all activities related to the definition of the architecture of processes, systems, and technological infrastructure necessary to support the organization in this new stage that begins with the focus on simplification and digital transformation.

Mr. Parola brings more than 30 years of experience working in companies from different industries, leading large and complex systems teams such as Arcos Dorados, Telecom Argentina, HCL Software and Correo Argentino (National Mail company).

Luciano has a degree in Computer Science from ITBA, with an MBA from IAE.

DIEGO MAHECHA

EVP, Corporate Development

Diego Mahecha is Executive Vice President of Corporate Development for Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

As one of the leaders in the organization, Diego is responsible for developing, leading and executing Cirion’s acquisition strategy associated with the expansion of our infrastructure, products, and services to support our clients’ ongoing digital transformation and value creation.

Diego Mahecha has been an Investment Banker focused on Digital Infrastructure for approximately 20 years. He worked at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers/Barclays in New York and London and most recently he was a Managing Director and Head of Digital Infrastructure Americas at Nomura Securities. He advised companies in the US, EMEA and Latin America and executed over $60billion in M&A transactions.

Prior to joining Nomura, he was at Andean Tower Partners (“ATP”), a portfolio company of Digital Bridge, where he was the Chief Financial Officer and supported the successful capital raise of over $500 million from strategic and private equity investors and led the investment of over $750 million in acquisitions Colombia, Peru and Chile.

He is on the Board of the Weidemann Steiner Syndrome (“WSS”) Foundation, which is a non-for-profit organization dedicated to better understand WSS through research to eventually find a cure to this rare genetic disorder.

Diego received an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia (Darden), and a B.A. in Economics from the City University of N.Y. at Queens College.

MARCELO MELAMED

EVP, Human Resources

Marcelo Melamed is Human Resources Vice-president Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

His responsibilities include all matters related with people, like recruiting, onboarding, development, training, payroll, sales compensation, labor Relationships and DIB Strategy.

Marcelo joined the company in 2007, former Lumen/CenturyLink, Level 3 and previously Global Crossing.

He brings more than 30 years of experience in the HR profession, almost 20 of them in the Telecom industry. Prior to joining the company, Marcelo worked at Citibank, Carrefour, Telefonica, Kraft Foods (currently Mondelez), leading Regional and Global HR teams.

Marcelo also has a strong academic experience teaching at different levels of undergraduate and Postgraduates Colleges like ITBA, IAE and UCA, where he is one of the Coordinators of the HR Specialization Program since 2012.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) in 1997. In 1998 he obtained an Executive Programs from the INSEAD in France. He also attended several post-graduate programs at the Michigan University, IE (Madrid), IAE in Buenos Aires, among others. He is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

GABRIEL HOLGADO

EVP, Global Sales

Gabriel Holgado is Executive Vice-president of Global Sales and Wholesale Services for Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

He is responsible for the commercial and sales activities in the region.

At present, his efforts are focused on strengthening and advancing the selling of Lumen´s newly integrated portfolio of solutions and services and securing a leading position in the region. He joined the company in 1999, former CenturyLink/Lumen, Level 3 and previously Global Crossing.

With over 30 years of professional career, Gabriel Holgado was recognized by Capacity Media as one of the Top 100 influencers (Power 100) of the global telecommunication industry. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Holgado worked at AT&T as Carrier Relations and at Telefónica leading the Switch & Data division within the Technology Department.

Gabriel Holgado has a degree in Electric & Electronic Engineering, an MBA and a Post Graduate degree in Negotiation. He also attended the International Executive Program at Universidad Adolfo Ibañez in Chile and Executive Development Program at Emory University in Atlanta, US.

TATIANA FONSECA

EVP, Operations

Tatiana is Executive Vice President of Operations for Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider.

As one of the leaders in the organization, Tatiana has a key role in the consolidation of the new company in the region and is responsible for the functions of Architecture, Planning, Engineering, Network Deployment, as well as, for Customer Service, Delivery and Operation, supporting the Sales and Product areas for business growth and development throughout the region and offering the best experience to our customers.

Tatiana brings an experience of more than 23 years leading teams in telecommunications companies. From her extensive career, her experience as Senior Director of Operations of Tim Brazil stands out, leading the Network and IT operations, as well as the leadership of the area of operations of OI, Brazil.

She is an Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer from PUC MG and has a postgraduate degree in IT Business Management, in addition to an MBA in Business Management from the Dom Cabral Foundation.

NELSON FONSECA

President, Data Centers

Nelson Fonseca is currently President of the Data Center Business Unit at Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering colocation, interconnection and cloud solutions from 18 data centers in key markets in the region, including Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Santiago.

He previously served as President and CEO of Cyxtera, a global provider of Data Center and interconnection services, and has more than 25 years of experience as an IT executive with expertise in IT infrastructure operations, cybersecurity, sales, business development, telecommunications and government contracting.

As a partner of Medina Capital since 2012, a private equity firm focused on investing growth capital behind high-performing companies that benefited from the firm's experience and knowledge in the technology sector.

Prior to Cyxtera and Medina Capital, Fonseca held various positions of increasing seniority at Terremark, a subsidiary of Equinix that operates data center assets in the United States, Europe and Latin America, from 2001 to 2012, including president. He began his professional career as an engineer and innovator in the wireless networking division of Nortel Networks and held various leadership and business development positions at Telcordia Technologies, formerly Bell Communications Research.

He graduated in Computer Science from Barry University and has his MBA from the University of Miami.