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Pilar Conesa, founder and CEO of Anteverti as well as Curator of the Smart City Expo World Congress, is the latest member of the Board of Trustees of the EADA Foundation, the highest governing body at the institution.

Conesa is the CEO of Anteverti, a consulting firm that advises cities, governments, companies and organisations on how to adapt to new environments, focussing on urban innovation projects, internationalisation and digital transformation. She is also the Curator of the Smart City Expo World Congress, which is a leading international event organised annually by Fira de Barcelona.

Conesa was motivated to participate in the governance of the business school due to three main factors: “EADA’s independence, its prestige and its clear commitment to innovation and sustainability”.

Barcelona, a leading technological cluster

The new trustee considers that Barcelona has already become an attraction cluster of talent due, in part, to the efforts of renowned business schools in the city, such as EADA Business School. However, she maintains that “we need to regain consensus to unite the city around its future direction”.

Barcelona is a city of opportunities: not only is it attractive but it also welcomes and inspires young, start-up companies. Its capacity to collaborate in different environments is proven by its long track record in entrepreneurship, especially in the fields of technology and innovation.  All of this has transformed Barcelona into one of the leading cities of our time and it must work to strengthen and retain this talent.

The decision to set up the 22@District in 2001, which annually hosts over 4,500 new companies and a total of 56,000 employees in the area, is a clear example of how this technological commitment is essential for the city today.

The current role of business schools

Conesa believes business schools in entrepreneurial cities such as Barcelona play a key role in promoting a culture of innovation in the business world, despite its greater complexity in larger companies, and taking the initiative to boost entrepreneurship and innovation. She considers that today’s managers should receive continuous training to ensure that ideas come to fruition in a viable and sustainable way. She also highlights the importance of young management teams in entities, companies and organisations where the combination of good expertise and innovation tends to be different.

The role of EADA Business School in management training

According to Pilar Conesa, EADA’s clear and decisive commitment to offering personalised management training, focussing on specific needs and adapting to new challenges such as innovation and digital transformation is the fundamental basis of its learning model. 

These two areas have accelerated during the pandemic and as an expert in digital transformation, the new EADA Trustee assures that in the post-Covid era, “technology will form a greater part of management training”.

She also believes we are experiencing a turning point in companies where new leaders are emerging. In her opinion, training is becoming increasingly important for managers to have the tools to address current issues in a fast-changing reality, with a focus on sustainability, and to manage different generations of diverse and inclusive teams with a high level of innovation.

Current members of the Board of Trustees:

Jordi Pursals, President of the EADA Foundation
Cesar Molins, CEO of AMES Group 
Carmen Mur, Entrepreneur & former president of Manpower 
Immaculada Amat, President of Amat Immobiliaris 
Pere Vallès, CEO of Exoticca 
John Rigau, Vice President and General Counsel PepsiCo Western Europe
Alberto Ojinaga, Managing Director of DESIGUAL 
Josep M. Martorell, Associate Director of Barcelona Computing Center
Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona 
Luis Pardo, CEO focus on growth: Leadership / Digitalisation / Sustainability
Margaret Chen, consultant and President of China Club Spain
Marc Gómez, CEO of ENCE Energía and former president of ABB Spain and Portugal
Guayente Sanmartín, Vicepresident General Manager and Global Head of Large Format Printing HP Inc.
Marta Reynal-Querol, Research Professor ICREA. Professor of Economics at the UPF