• His appointment was announced by the regional Government of Castile and Leon on May 31, following a proposal from the education department

Ignacio Galán, chairman of Iberdrola, today took up his recently announced post of chairman of the Social Affairs Advisory Board of Salamanca University at a ceremony in Valladolid hosted by the president of the Castile and Leon regional government, Juan Vicente Herrera. The event was also attended by the chancellors of all public universities in Castile and Leon.

His appointment had been announced by the regional government on May 31, following a proposal from the education department.
 
Ignacio Galán takes over from former Spanish minister of transport, communication and employment, Salvador Sánchez-Terán. The advisory board plans to meet in July to welcome its new members.

The Social Affairs Advisory Board of the University of Salamanca comprises 30 members representing social organizations and companies that have strong links with Salamanca and a long-term engagement in University matters. It represents the interests of social groups and stakeholders of the university community at large.

Important political leaders, such as Carlos Mayor Oreja or Ricardo Martí Fluxá and senior corporate executives including José Manuel de la Sen, Manuel Pizarro and Salvador Alemany hold the same responsibility at various state universities in Spain.

Also appointed at today’s ceremony were the chairmen of the same advisory board to other Castilian universities, namely Rafael Miranda to the University of Burgos, José Vicente de los Mozos to the University of Valladolid and José Antonio de Paz to the University of Leon.

Last December, Ignacio Galan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Salamanca, the oldest university in the Hispanic world, which is also one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious. He is also a visiting lecturer at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, and in 2011 he was given an Honorary Degree by the University of Edinburgh. These important distinctions reflect the contribution of Iberdrola Chairman to research and innovation, whilst recognizing his strategic vision throughout his professional career.

Married and father of four, Galan was born in Salamanca (Spain) in 1950. He graduated in electro-mechanical industrial engineering from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería (ICAI) at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas. He also holds a degree in General Business Administration and Foreign Trade from the Escuela de Organización Industrial (EOI) of Madrid.

Galan’s contribution has decisively reshaped the profile of the companies he has managed, fostering transformations which have made them larger, more efficient, more profitable and more international. Of this, Iberdrola is the best example.

Ignacio Galan’s appointment in 2001 as executive vice-president and CEO of Iberdrola marked the beginning of one of the most important and successful company transformation projects of the last decade. His commitment to international growth and renewable energies has enabled Iberdrola to become Spain’s largest energy utility, the world’s wind energy leader and one of Europe’s largest electricity utilities by market capitalization. The company is today present in 40 countries and has a workforce of 32,000 people.