At an event held last night at Círculo Ecuestre in Barcelona, Eugenia Bieto was awarded the Gold Insignia of the Spanish Institute of Financial Analysts (IEAF). The award was given by the vice-chairman of the IEAF and president of the Institute’s Catalan branch, Cirus Andreu, in recognition of her outstanding career at the helm of ESADE.

‘I  feel very honoured to belong to the group of recognised managers and academics, people who help to enrich and promote the business and academic communities’, said Bieto, who acknowledged that the distinction ‘underscores the importance of academia as a fundamental vector for the development of a competitive economy’. In this regard, the director general of ESADE noted that ‘Catalonia has built an important cluster of business schools, which recognises us as a prominent international player in management education.’

In her speech, Bieto explained, ‘I have two passions: teaching and management. I have been able to pursue my career in both of these fields. My work in education has been marked by the development and promotion of pedagogical methodology, as I am convinced that a good education is the true lever to transform society and companies.’ ‘Managing ESADE has also marked my career, from the creation of the ESADE Entrepreneurship Centre, through various institutional responsibilities, to becoming director general, a position I have held for the last eight years’, she said.

The IEAF board of directors unanimously decided to recognise Bieto with the award, based on her outstanding career in management and her status as the first woman to head a business school. In this regard, Bieto noted, ‘Women of my generation have struggled to play the role in society we feel we are due. Although there is still a ways to go, today our developed world has made very notable progress. Nevertheless, we must continue to fight so that women across the world have access to education and positions of responsibility under equal conditions.’

The Catalan branch of the IEAF, a professional association founded in 1965 by Rafael Termes whose members include more than 1,500 analysts and financial professionals from all over Spain, gathered many institutional representatives at the 13th annual meeting, such as Catalan Secretary of Economy Pere Aragonés, Catalan Director General for Financial Policy, Insurance and Treasury Josep Maria Sánchez, the IEAF chairman Jorge Yzaguirre, and leaders from the main financial institutions, management bodies and investment services companies.

With this recognition, Bieto joins the list of past recipients of the award, including entrepreneurs such as Juan Rosell, Víctor Grifols, Marc Puig, Isidre Fainé and Jordi Galí, amongst others.