Madrid, April 19, 2022. IE University has announced the appointment of Pablo Isla as President of its International Governing Board. Isla, Executive Chairman of the Inditex Group until March 31, will contribute with his experience as top executive recognized worldwide to promote the work of the Governing Board, made up of leading international figures from the institutional, academic and business world, with experience in the public and private sector. Every year IE University trains more than 8,000 students from 140 countries in undergraduate, postgraduate, doctorate and executive education programs in the areas of Business, Global & Public Affairs, Technology, Architecture, Design and Legal Studies.
IE University’s International Governing Board advises IE University’s senior management to fulfill the purpose of the institution, promote its main strategic lines and key projects. Guillermo de la Dehesa, until now President of the International Governing Council, a brilliant businessman and adviser to international companies, will continue to be linked to the institution as Director and Honorary President.
“It is a privilege to be able to incorporate Pablo Isla’s knowledge and experience into our institution. I am sure that his global vision, his leadership style and his values will be key to promoting our strategic projects. We will work together to fulfill our purpose: to drive positive change through education, innovation and research.” Diego del Alcázar Benjumea, CEO of IE University.
“My experience for so many years in the company has taught me that education is the key to progress and contribute in a sustainable way to the improvement of society. I join IE University with the hope of adding to the path of training people with an entrepreneurial, humanistic and innovative spirit”, says Pablo Isla.
Pablo Isla (Madrid, 1964), Law graduate from the Complutense University of Madrid and State Attorney ranked number one in his class, held the position of Director of Legal Services at Banco Popular from 1992 to 1996, when he was appointed General Director from
State Heritage. In 1998 he returned to Banco Popular Español as General Secretary and in 2000 he held the Presidency of the Altadis Group.
In 2005, Pablo Isla joined the Inditex Group as CEO and Vice President, and in 2011 he assumed the Executive Presidency of the company. At this stage, Inditex has become a world leader in its sector and a benchmark in terms of digital integration and sustainability. The Inditex group, with more than 6,400 stores and 150,000 employees of 172 nationalities, owns brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Oysho. The textile group closed 2021 with a turnover of 27,716 million euros and a net profit of 3,243 million euros, which tripled the figures for 2020. Online sales grew by 14% during the whole of last year, up to 7,500 million, 25.5% of the total sale.
Pablo Isla is also a director of the multinational Nestle and patron of the Amancio Ortega Foundation and the La Caixa Foundation. Among other recognitions, Pablo Isla was considered in 2017 and 2018 as the Best Executive Chairman in the world by Harvard Business Review and in 2020 Forbes distinguished him as the best CEO of the decade.
The International Governing Board of IE University is made up of:
- Ismail Ahmed, CEO, Gulf Medical (Canada)
- Kofi Appenteng, President, Africa-America Institute (Ghana)
- Emilio Azcárraga, President, Board of Directors of Grupo Televisa (Mexico)
- Carolina Barco, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia (Colombia/EU)
- Noor bint Asem, President and Founder, Kyan Foundation (Jordan)
- Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, CEO, MCC Productions (USA)
- Guillermo de la Dehesa, Counselor and Honorary President, International Governing Council of IE University (Spain)
- Valentín Diez Morodo, President, Mexican Institute of Competitiveness (Mexico/Spain)
- Juan Ignacio Entrecanales, Executive Vice President, Acciona (Spain)
- Carl H. Hahn, Chairman Emeritus, Board of Volkswagen (Austria)
- Eduardo Hochschild, President, Hochschild Group (Peru)
- Mary Jo Jacobi, Managing Director, Mary Jo Consulting (US & UK)
- Fady Jameel, Vice President, Abdul Latif Jameel (Saudi Arabia)
- Julie Katzman Director, Advisor and Investor, MacArthur Foundation, Nilus, Ive and Laboratoria (USA)
- Angelica Kohlmann, President and CEO, Kohlmann & Co (Germany/Brazil)
- Wei Lin Kwee, Senior Vice President, Hotels at Pontiac Land Group (Singapore)
- Julie Lassonde, President and CEO, Lassonde Capital (Canada)
- Maria Tereza Leme Fleury, Director, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil)
- Uni Zulfiani Lubi, Editor-in-Chief, IDN Times (Indonesia)
- Pascale Mussard Founder of Petit H and Vice President of Hermès Foundation (France)
- Usha Prashar, Member of the House of Lords (Kenya)
- Giuseppe Tringali, President of the IE/EY Global Corporation Center (Italy)
- Martin Varsavsky, CEO of Overture Life and Goggo Network, Founder and President of Prelude Fertility (Argentina/Spain)
- Dimitri Vassilacos, Partner, Ship Finance Solutions (Greece)
- Hubertus von Baumbach, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officer, Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany)
- Georg von Habsburg, Hungarian Ambassador to France (Hungary)
- Zhihong Yi, Academic Director of the FinTech MBA, Renmin University (China)