As Chief Financial Officer for Diageo North America, Cristina Santamaria leads Diageo's Finance and Strategy functions for the US and Canada markets.
Cristina is a strong financial and strategic leader who thrives working cross functionally to deliver change and has a deep passion for developing talent and building diverse teams.
Cristina joined Diageo in May 2021 from Mondelez International where she spent 16 years in various senior finance positions across North America, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa. Her experience includes roles as CFO China, Chief Audit & Controls Officer and Chief of Staff, Office of the CEO. Cristina's leadership expands beyond the boundaries of a traditional finance executive and throughout her career, she has driven transformational strategies that helped deliver long-term shareholder value. In her most recent role as Chief Financial Officer for Latin America, Cristina transformed forecasting reliability, helped improve cash flow generation and set the foundation for sustainable profitable growth.
Since joining Diageo, Cristina has become the executive sponsor of our Business Resource Group, NextGen, whose mission is to be influential partners within Diageo, providing input in building brands that appeal to the next generation of thought leaders.
Prior to joining Mondelez, Cristina worked at McKinsey & Company in their New York and Madrid offices. Cristina holds an MBA in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Cristina loves discovering new cultures, cooking for friends, and playing the guitar. She is originally from Spain where she travels back to see her family every year. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband, her daughter, and her son.