Javier Santiso

Javier Santiso, is ESADEgeo’s Vice-President and President of the OECD Emerging Markets Network (EmNet). He is the founder of the Start-Up Spain initiative, consisting of a series of events with entrepreneurs, venture capital funds and start-ups organised in conjunction with ESADE and Fundación Rafael del Pino (Rafael del Pino Foundation). He is also founder of Club España 2020, which brings together the Spanish Argonauts, executives at foreign multinationals who work abroad. In addition, he created forums on emerging markets known as the ESADE Globalisation Lab. He is the editor of the Annual Report on Sovereign Wealth Funds, published jointly by ESADEgeo, KPMG and Invest in Spain (ICEX). The first issue was published in 2012.

„Latin American countries are engaged in ambitious and far-reaching reforms. What the Brazilians have been doing may be an inspiration for Europe and the USA.“

In 2009, he was nominated as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum (Davos). In 2011, he was named, along with a scientist and a blogger, as one of the three most influential up-and-coming intellectuals in the Latin-American context, according to Foreign Policy magazine. He was again nominated among the top 50 most influential people in Latin-America in 2012. He is a member of the global advisory board of the World Economic Forum and the Aspen Institute in France.

He previously served as Director and Chief Economist at the OECD Development Centre, an economic policy think tank consisting of 95 people focused on Africa, Asia and Latin America. Under his leadership, the Centre underwent a profound transformation: It managed to triple its staff and more than doubled the Board of Directors, composed of states (half of which are now emerging countries). He founded the OECD Latin American Economic Outlook (LEO) and the OECD Emerging Markets Network (EmNet), among other initiatives.