Ana Freire, among the “Top 100 Female Leaders in Spain”
23 Febrero - 2023
Dr Ana Freire, director of the Department of Operations, Technology and Science of the UPF Barcelona School of Management, has been included among the “Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain” by MagasIN of El Español, in the tenth edition of the awards that were presented last night during a gala that took place at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and broadcast live by Atresmedia.
Dr Freire, also director of the Master’s Degree in Data Analytics for Business at the UPF-BSM, attended the gala and declared that “to have been selected among the Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain, in this tenth edition of the awards, is an honour, especially seeing the high level of the candidates in the ‘Academics, researchers and thinkers’ category.”
She added that “initiatives like this contribute to giving visibility to women who excel in areas which are sometimes very masculinized, such as the category of ‘Managers‘ or ‘Start-ups and SMEs’.
In addition, increasing this register of professionals in each edition promotes the creation of a very broad network at the state level, favouring future collaborations.”
This is not the first recognition given to Ana Freire. Among other distinctions, Business Insider included her in its list of 23 young Spanish women leading the technological revolution, and she won the Young Female Talent Award given by the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences. Her research area is the social and economic impact of data science and artificial intelligence, a topic on which she has contributed with more than 50 scientific publications, several patents and numerous recognitions, both national and international.
Raising the profile of female talent
The main objective of ‘Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain’ is to make female talent visible in order to build a society based on equality. In 2011 it launched its first Top 100 ranking, and since then the initiative has not stopped growing, adding other events with companies and institutions to promote diversity and highlight the role of women in the public sphere.
In addition to giving visibility to women in its annual ranking, the main objectives of the organization are that those chosen in the different editions form a think tank, which periodically analyses the situation and anticipates issues that may be raised in the future, and whose voices are incorporated into the strategic, political, economic and social agenda.
In their tenth gala held last night, ten different categories of women leaders were distinguished: academics, researchers and thinkers; senior management; culture, leisure and sport; managers; businesswomen; public, institutional and political functions; media; professionals and independent leaders; start-ups and SMEs; and the tertiary sector and social impact, in addition to the ‘Top 10 Outside Spain’.
The well-known television presenter Eva González was in charge of hosting the gala, with the help of Sara Escudero, who added a note of humour. They introduced the various musical performances on the night and revealed the names of the professionals in the different categories that will go on to swell this already numerous list of women leaders.