“SPORT HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD”

Born in Cuba, Mayi’s journey from a competitive athlete to an international executive began with a fascination for how global platforms connect countries, cultures and people. After graduating with distinction in Sport Sciences and serving as a university lecturer, she became the first Cuban recipient of a joint FIFA and IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship to complete her International Master’s degree in Europe. This milestone marked her transition from analysing complex institutional systems to actively shaping them, eventually leading her to make Switzerland her home and acquire Swiss nationality.

This unique trajectory shaped her diplomatic, cross-cultural approach to leadership. Working across multiple languages including Spanish, English, German, French and Italian; Mayi excels at bridging diverse perspectives, building cross-industry trust and moving complex international stakeholders towards common commercial and strategic ground.

Mayi entered the global sports ecosystem with a mandate to transform unmonetised portfolios into thriving, scalable commercial platforms. At FIFA, she spearheaded and scaled the women’s game, expanding a limited development programme into a worldwide growth platform across 200+ member associations, catalysing an investment rise from USD 500,000 to USD 22 million and launching the globally recognised Live Your Goals brand platform across 70 countries.

Building on this foundation, she transitioned into corporate human capital as Managing Director of The Adecco Group’s first global Sports Practice. She led high-value commercial partnerships including the International Olympic Committee (IOC). From there, she developed a P&L-accountable international business spanning global markets across the US, UK and EMEA, and including global clients such as ATP Tour and Red Bull, thus converting corporate brand ambitions into high-performance workforce and athlete transition assets.

Most recently, Mayi stepped into the commercial heart of elite European men’s club football at TEAM Marketing. Leading the partnerships ecosystem and portfolio for the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League, she directed partnership strategy, brand positioning and digital activation across global brands and specialist commercial units within a multi-billion-dollar media and commercial rights ecosystem.

Across industries, commercial growth, technological change and rising expectations are challenging organisations to rethink how they lead, govern and create value. Sustainable progress requires more than financial performance; it also depends on building trust, creating opportunity and strengthening the ecosystems in which businesses and communities operate.

Mayi brings experience in navigating this complexity, connecting commercial ambition with responsible governance and human progress. She understands how to build alliances across sectors, navigate competing interests and bring diverse stakeholders together around a shared direction.

A mother and lifelong athlete, Mayi enjoys skiing, downhill biking and kitesurfing. Sport remains central to how she lives and leads, with curiosity, resilience and the courage to embrace new challenges.