Board of trustees

Núria Basi Moré

Degree in Biology (University of Barcelona, 1976), with 20 years of R&D experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Current president of BASI GROUP, a corporate group consisting of fashion wear companies. President of the Social Board of Pompeu Fabra University and member of a number of economic and social organizations such as Cercle d’Economia, Grup Set, and Institut Guttmann.

Joaquim Boixareu Antolí

Degree in Business Science and MBA from ESADE (Barcelona), the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in Paris and the New York University. Managing Director of Irestal Group. He is Patron of Honour of the FemCAT Foundation of Private Businesspeople, a Member of the Board of the Enciclopedia Catalana Foundation and the CIDOB (Centre for International Studies and Documentation in Barcelona). In the academic world, he presided over the Social Council of Catalonia Polytechnic Universityat the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) from 2008 to 2013.

Joaquim Coello Brufau

He studied naval engineering at the Higher Technical School of Naval Engineers of Madrid. He also earned an MBA at IESE. He was CEO and President of Applus from 2006 to 2014, CEO of ITP, General Director of Gamesa, Dean of the Official School of Naval and Oceanic Engineers of Spain, President of the Barcelona Port Authority and President of the Social Council of University of Barcelona. He has received 2 crosses of Naval Merit and one of Aeronautical Merit. He also holds the Grand Cross of Order of Alfonso X El Sabio and was named “Best nautical sportsperson” in 1978. He is now adviser to the President of Gamesa, a member of the board of several companies and associate Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

María Carmen Garmendia Lasa

María Carmen Garmendia Lasa is a teacher, a graduate in Romance Philology and a PhD in Psychology. Throughout her professional life, she has worked in the fields of education and culture. She was Secretary General of Language Policy (1985-1994), Minister of Culture and spokesperson (1994-1998), Minister of Culture (1998-2001) in the Basque Government, being the first woman appointed to these positions. She has been a member of the Governing Council of the University of Deusto (2006-2018). She currently belongs to the Boards of Trustees of the Donostia-San Sebastián Aquarium Foundation (Vice President since 2016-); Nazaret Zentroa (Vice President since 2015-); Matia Fundazioa (President since 2016-). She has frequently collaborated in different media, both in Basque and Spanish, on issues related to her areas of knowledge. She also participates in other social volunteering activities.

Airy Maragall Garrigosa

Screenwriter and director of documentaries. She studied at the Faculty of Information Sciences and the Master’s Degree in TV and Cinema, both at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Since 1988, she has worked as a freelancer on radio and then TV, where she was part of the screenwriting teams for fiction TV series, entertainment programs and contests, outreach and educational spaces and large format events. Since 2000, her career has been focused on the creation and development of documentaries. From 2007 to 2015, she was a teacher at the National University of Lanús (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Today, she shares her dedication to documentaries with the editorial management of Memorias Ediciones, which is based in Barcelona and creates biographies and memoir books in Spain and Latin America.

Guillem Maragall Garrigosa

Son of Diana Garrigosa and Pasqual Maragall, born in Barcelona in 1980. He is married and has two children, Nolasc and Júlia. With an academic background in Tourism Studies, since February 2009 he has worked in the service sector as a sales administrator and R&D project manager for Sodexo. For three years and prior to this, he worked as a cleaning manager and sales administrator for the cleaning services public tender section at Valoriza (Sacyr Vallhermoso Group). From 1999 to 2005 he worked in the hotel sector.

Jordi Mercader Miró

He received a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Business Administration from IESE. He is president of Miquel y Costas & Miquel, S.A., vice president of the Vidacaixa Group, S.A. and also sits on the board of directors for Corporación Alimentaria Peñasanta, S.A., Vidacaixa Group, S.A. and Isolux Corsan, S.A. Earlier in his business career he was also president of the Instituto Nacional de Industria, Empresa Nacional Bazán de Construcciones Navales Militares, S.A. and Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, S.A. He was also a director and member of the Executive Committee at Caja de Ahorros y Pensiones de Barcelona (1999-2012) and CaixaBank, S.A. (2008-12).

Pura Muñoz Cánoves

Pura Muñoz has a PhD in Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a post-doctorate from the University of California-San Diego and The Scripts Research Institute, as well as from the Cancer Research Institute (IdiBell) of Barcelona. She was an independent group leader at IdiBell, which later moved to the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG). She has also worked as coordinator of the Cell Biology Unit at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) with the support of ICREA. She is currently a professor at ICREA and at the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at UPF. She is also a member of EMBO and has a double appointment at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid.

Arcadi Navarro Cuartiellas

He has a PhD in Biology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, serving as professor of genetics and lecturer and researcher at ICREA in its Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Director of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and the BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Center. His research focuses on population genetics, molecular evolution, genome-to-phenome relationships, and evolutionary medicine. In January 2016 he was appointed Secretary of Universities and Research of the Department of Knowledge and Business of the Government of Catalonia, a position he held until July 2018.

Marcel Prunera Colomer

Marcel Prunera Colomer, born on October 24th, 1972 in Barcelona. Economist from the UB, with various master’s training in real estate management from UB and URL. He is a founding partner of Crea Inversión and Prisma Capital as well as President of GuinotPrunera. His professional career has led him to manage and work in financial services, investment and real estate companies. He has experience working both in multinationals and family businesses or undertaking his own projects. Also, for 7 years he was Director General of Economic Promotion of the Generalitat de Catalunya. He has always combined his professional activity with work with non-profit organizations in the field of culture, health and social impact.

Narcís Serra Serra

He holds a PhD in Economics. He is the President of the IBEI, Barcelona Institute of International Studies, and member of the Board of Patrons of CIDOB, Centre for Studies and International Documentation in Barcelona. Other posts include: President of the CIDOB (2000-2012), President of the Board of Patrons of Catalonia National Art Museum (2004-2011), President of the savings bank Caja de Ahorros de Cataluña (2005-2010), member of Congress for Barcelona (1986 to 2004), Vice-President of the Government (1991-1995), Minister of Defence (1982-1991), Mayor of Barcelona (1979-1982). And minister for Territorial Policy and Public Works of the Government of Catalonia (1977 to 1979). He is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

David Vegara Figueras

David Vegara Figueras (Barcelona, 1966) is Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and Executive Director of Banco Sabadell, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of AMADEUS IT Group and Chairman of the Spanish-British Tertulias. Previously, he was Associate Professor at ESADE Business School (banking, finance, macroeconomics, 2015-2018), Deputy Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism for Banking (MEDE, 2012-2015) and Deputy Director of the Western Hemisphere Department (Americas) and Head of Mission for Brazil in the International Monetary Fund (2010-2012). He was also Secretary of State for the Economy from 2004 to 2009 and Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services of the European Union (2005-2009). He began his professional activity in the Economy Department of the Cabinet of the President of the Government (1993-1995) and at Banco Sabadell (1992-1993). He is an Economist from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a Master’s in Economics from the London School of Economics.

"la Caixa" Foundation (Antonio Vila Bertrán/ Ignasi López Verdeguer)

Antonio Vila was born in Barcelona in 1949, he is Chief Executive Officer of Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation since December 2019.

Graduate in Economic Sciences from the University of Barcelona. In 1975 he did a placement in Business Management in Sacramento (United States of America).

In 1975 he joined the Catalana Occidente Insurance Group in its life insurance business. In 1977 he began his professional career as a manager at Banca Jover, as Office Manager and Securities Department Manager. After its acquisition by Banco Santander in 1978 he held the position of Director of Head Office. In 1980 he joined Nido Industrial, S.A. in Holdings Management, both in Brazil and in Italy. He was Regional Director for Catalonia at Banco Internacional de Comercio (1981-1983) and at Banco Saudí Español-Saudesbank (1983-1985). In 1985 he began his career at ”la Caixa” as Territorial Manager of Grupo Caixa, a post he held until 1987. From 1987 to 1989 he held the position of Deputy Commercial Director and from 1989 to 1991, the position of General Deputy Director for Loan Capital, Capital Market and Insurance. In 1991 he went on to hold executive positions in the insurance group of ”la Caixa”, was appointed general Director and Board Member of VidaCaixa, and SegurCaixa, and also Board Member of Acesa and Adeslas. In 1998 he was appointed Executive Director of ”la Caixa”, member of the Management Committee and Territorial Director for Catalonia. In 2008 he was appointed Chairman of CaixaRenting. In 2012 he joined CaixaBank, and was involved in the merger processes of Banca Cívica and Banco de Valencia. In 2014 he was appointed Chairman of MicroBank, and in 2015 was also appointed Chairman of CaixaBank Consumer Finance (CCF) an institution that merged with CaixaRenting in the same year.

Ignasi López Verdeguer is director of Relations with Research and Health Institutions of the “la Caixa” Foundation. He has more than 20 years of experience in financing and management of research and innovation and fields of science and society. He is a physicist from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona / Université de Grenoble and has a postgraduate degree in Business Management from IESE-Universidad de Navarra. Participates in areas of research and innovation governance at national and international level. He has been President of the research group of the European Association of Foundations (Philea) and of the Advisory Board of Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI) of EIT Health, among others.