28 January 2025
Bilbao Campus
Mari Jose Aranguren has won the ASPEGI 2025 award from the Association of Professional Women, Businesswomen and Executives of Gipuzkoa. The general manager of Orkestra has been awarded in the category of Directive, while the award in the category of Entrepreneur has gone to Sandra Montes Pérez, co-founder and chief operating officer of ScrapAd.
The ASPEGI awards, which this year celebrate their tenth edition under the slogan '10 years leaving a mark', aim to make visible the talent and leadership of women in the territory and reinforce the idea that gender equality is a key driver for economic and social development.
The jury highlighted Mari Jose Aranguren's academic and professional career, as well as her vision and leadership of strategic projects that connect research and action for the economic development of the region, key issues to promote international collaboration and innovation in business management.
After hearing the news of the award, Mari Jose Aranguren said she was very excited by the support for her candidacy and stressed that her success at the head of Orkestra is largely due to “teamwork, the hallmark of the institute”.
The awards ceremony will take place next February 20 at the Miramon Technology Park during an event that will aim to make visible and recognize the exceptional trajectory of two women who stand out for their leadership, effort and knowledge in business management.
Mari Jose Aranguren has directed the Basque Institute of Competitiveness-Orkestra since 2014, where she has led 3 strategic plans in which the organization has achieved important milestones: an annual income level of 3.3 million euros, with 41 projects implemented in collaboration with 98 entities, a staff of 43 people, of which 11 are doing their PhD, and an extensive network of alliances with international institutions.
She is Professor of Economics at the University of Deusto and a recognized expert in the area of competitiveness and territorial strategy, clusters and networks and policy analysis and evaluation, topics on which she has published numerous books and articles in national and international journals. He also has extensive experience leading national and international projects in the aforementioned research areas and has worked closely with various agents in the Basque Country.
She has held various positions of responsibility at the University of Deusto, in addition to developing a teaching and research career at Deusto Business School, where she has been a professor since 1994.
In December 2016, he received recognition for his personal trajectory and contribution to territorial competitiveness from Harvard University's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.
