In a LinkedIn post, Bernal confirmed his decision to leave the company after his 21-year tenure.
Describing it as a “key period in [his] professional development”, Bernal has seen the business through “the creation and development of the Group's international wholesale unit to the growth of the B2B business”.
Bernal joined Telefónica back in 2000, serving as its Marketing Director of International Services for Corporates. 2004 saw him promoted to director of International Voice Business, Strategy and Resources, a role he held until 2012. Shortly after he was named Director of Strategy, Business Development and Alliances until 2014, when he was appointed executive vice president of Business Development, Alliances and Marketing Communication.
More recently served as CEO of International Wholesale Business & EVP of Business Development at Telefonica Business Solutions, between 2017 and 2019. 2019-2020 he held the position of Chief Commercial Officer of Telefonica International Wholesale Services, before switching to his most recent position of CCO of Telefónica Global Solutions.
At the same time, Bernal has represented Telefónica as a board member of the ITW Global Leaders Forum since 2017, as well as fouding board member of the Communication Business Automation Network (CBAN) since 2020.
Prior to his time at Telefónica, Bernal has worked for Alcatel (now a part of Nokia) as Sales Director of its Latam unit.
Leveraging his vast experience Bernal has positioned himself as a thought leader in the space, regularly speaking at international telecoms conferences, taking part in interviews and commenting on the state of the industry. Most recently he was named in the Capacity Power 100 listing, made up of the 100 of the most influential people in the sector.
No details of his next moves have yet been shared, but Bernal closed out his farewell post saying that “now it is time to change course”
