Director of IE Center for Social Innovation & Sustainability / Lead of IE Sustainable Impact Teaching & Research

Concepción Galdón leads IE University’s teaching and research efforts in sustainable impact, where she is also Director of the Center for Social Innovation. She is responsible for creating sustainable impact academic content across all schools and programs, fostering further research in the field, and collaborating with organizations and partners interested in Social Innovation. Concepción is a professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IE and is also president of the social enterprise Puentes Global, which she co-founded in 2009, a social entity that focuses its work on promoting the employability of young people and disadvantaged groups and supporting grassroots entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs. She is also a member of the Venture Board of Ashoka Spain.
Concepción holds a degree in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, a Master’s degree in Public Administration and International Development from Harvard Kennedy School, and a PhD in International Economics and Development from the Complutense University of Madrid, which awarded her with the Extraordinary PhD Award in Economics. Her PhD research focused on the use of technology in social entrepreneurship. Concepcion has published articles in academic journals and books, writes regular media contributions and is a frequent speaker at international conferences.
Her previous professional experience includes founding and working with an NGO, the UN Procurement Service, the Latin America Division of Banco Santander and the Government of Liberia under the presidency of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.