21 February 2025
- The Association of Professional Women, Businesswomen and Executives of Gipuzkoa has awarded the general director of Orkestra
- The jury highlighted her vision and leadership of strategic projects that connect research and action for the economic development of the region
Mari Jose Aranguren has won the ASPEGI 2025 award from the Association of Professional Women, Businesswomen and Executives of Gipuzkoa. The general director of Orkestra has been recognised in the Manager category, while the award in the category of Businesswoman has gone to Sandra Montes Pérez, co-founder and director of operations of ScrapAd.
The ASPEGI awards, which this year celebrate their tenth edition under the slogan ‘10 years leaving a mark’, aim to highlight 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 the academic and professional career of Mari Jose Aranguren, as well as her vision and leadership of strategic projects that connect research and action for the economic development of the region. They also valued her vision and leadership, which are key to promoting international collaboration and innovation in business management.
During the awards ceremony, which took place in San Sebastian, the general director of Orkestra shared this recognition with the whole team: ‘The people who make up Orkestra are its greatest asset. My job is to work on the basis of mutual trust, cooperation and care, and to create the conditions for everyone to give their best. That's why I always say that leadership in Orkestra is shared leadership. This award, like the one I received at Harvard, is shared with my team. The knowledge that this nomination has been the work of my colleagues has undoubtedly been the most gratifying thing of all".
About Mari Jose Aranguren
Since 2014 she has been the director of the Basque Institute of Competitiveness, where she has led three strategic plans in which the organisation has achieved important milestones: an annual income level of 3.3 million euros, with 41 projects carried out in collaboration with 98 entities, a staff of 43 people, of whom 11 are PhD students, and an extensive network of alliances with international institutions.
She is a Professor of Economics at the University of Deusto and a recognised 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 high-impact national and international journals. She 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, as well as developing a teaching and research career at Deusto Business School, where she has been a professor since 1994.
In December 2016, she received recognition for her personal career and her contribution to territorial competitiveness from the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard University.
