About us

Honorary President

HE Ambassador Javier E Figueroa

Argentine Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 2020, Don Javier Esteban Figueroa is a career diplomat and a member of Argentina’s Foreign Service since 1995. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a degree in law and later he graduated from the Institute of the Foreign Service. Previously, he was Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba and to the Republic of South Africa concurrent with Namibia and Botswana.

At the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was Under-Secretary for Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and before that he was Director-General of Malvinas and South Atlantic. He held other posts at the Argentine Embassy in Cuba and at the Embassy of Argentina in the UK where he worked for seven years between 1998 and 2005. He is married to Alessandra Viggiano Marra, current Cultural attaché at the Argentine Embassy. Ambassador Figueroa has a passion for marine conservation, diving, music and the arts.

Chairwoman, Trustee

Fátima Nollén-Reardon

Fátima is a journalist, dance writer and reviewer. She writes for Dancing Times and is the only Argentine member of the Critics’ Circle UK, Dance Section.

She lived and worked in Argentina, Brazil, the United States and the UK, where she arrived in 2002. Her career developed mainly in television and radio as a reporter, foreign correspondent and current affairs commentator. She was awarded a scholarship by Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Argentina) and won -with her NBC-Telemundo team- three Emmy Awards for the coverage of the Olympics in 2012.

She worked for Clarín, Gente, Crónica TV, ATC (TV Pública), Telemundo, NBC-Deportes Telemundo, Harper’s Bazzar Mexico, Balletin Dance, and La Nación newspaper.

Fátima joined the AAS in 2007 and is a member of the executive committee since 2018.

She lives in London with her husband Mark and son Mateo. You probably will find her at the ballet, and she loves sharing time with friends and dancing.

Hon. Treasurer, Trustee

Mario Mansilla

Mario Mansilla is an Italo-Argentinian accountant and linguist from Buenos Aires University (UBA). His passion for travel led him to join the airline industry in 1980 at Aerolíneas Argentinas’ head office. Mario was Administration Manager for Italy and the Middle East in Rome. In London he was Admin Manager for the UK and General Manager UK and North Europe for more for 10 years.

In 2003 he joined Ethiopian Airlines as Sales and Administration Manager, position he greatly enjoyed for 15 years, accompanying the amazing growth of the airline.

After retiring in 2018, he is still active as Honorary treasurer of the Anglo-Argentine Society and as Honorary Secretary of Foreign Airlines Association UK. His other interests are gardening, running marathons (more half now) around the world, and singing in the chorus of Chelsea Opera Group and other London choirs as required.

Vice-Chairman, Trustee

Federico Miguel Amadeo Cincotta

CEO and Founder of Cincotta Advisory, a growing international legal and consultancy firm. Federico has more than 20 years of legal experience in Argentina and more than 8 years of post-qualification experience as a practising England & Wales Solicitor. He provides expert legal, business, commercial and corporate governance guidance to governments, the UK, international companies and private clients for the management of different legal scenarios on behalf of a diverse client portfolio.

He is the Vice-chairman of SOBAL (Society of British and Argentine Lawyers), sits at the Board of the BACC (British Argentine Chamber of Commerce), is a member of the Law Society of England & Wales, Colegio Público de Abogados de la Capital Federal and Colegio de Abogados de La Plata. He is a professor at the National University of La Plata -Postgradute course-, lecturing on Legal English.

Federico lives in London with his wife Fiona and their two Anglo-Argentine children and loves to make asados for his friends and family.

Co-opted member

Vanesa Patrignani Castillo

Vanesa Patrignani Castillo
Co-Opted Member

Social Media Manager and journalist. She is passionate about new content formats and digital trends. She teamed-up with clients such as media outlets, photojournalism agencies and companies within entertainment, mobile videogames, music, lifestyle, fashion and Formula 1.
Her strengths are building audiences, direct content productions, defining social media strategies and the outline of campaigns cross-multi-platforms.
She worked for La Nacion newspaper in Argentina and loves fashion.

Trustee

Federico J. Yáñez

Federico was born and raised in Argentina, where he attended school at St. Leonard’s College (part of ESSARP - English Speaking Scholastic Association Of The River Plate) and his relationship with English culture began.

He earned his degree as Bachelor of Science in Industrial & Management Engineering in 2007, and Masters degree in Project Management in 2012. His consulting career started in Accenture, in Barcelona in 2008, before taking on a role with NTT DATA in 2016. He is now a consulting executive, and also collaborates with Griinku, a farm-to-fork start-up platform, and 3N Brokers, an international trade enterprise.

He lived and worked in Argentina, Puerto Rico, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, and France, finally moving to the UK in 2016. He currently lives in London with his wife María, their daughter Felicity, and the lovely Astro (a Cocker Spaniel).

Federico joined the Anglo-Argentine Society Executive Committee in 2021, and is passionate about making this a better world for our children - one step at a time.

Co-opted Member

Christopher Ecclestone

Christopher was born in Australia and is an Australian and British citizen who lived 10 years in Argentina.

He is a principal and mining strategist at Hallgarten & Company and is based in London. Prior to founding Hallgarten & Company in 2003, he was the head of research at an economic thinktank in New Jersey which he had joined in 2001. Before moving to the U.S., he was the founder and head of research at the esteemed Argentine equity research firm, Buenos Aires Trust Company, from 1991 until 2001.

He worked in London, beginning in 1985, as a corporate finance and equities analyst and as a freelance consultant on the restructuring of the securities industry. Earlier, Christopher worked for the Federal and State governments in Australia. He graduated in 1981 from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Christopher has a passion for Argentine political and economic history.

His wife Susana is Argentine, as are both his children, Olivia and Alexander