About
Javier Iborra
Strategic Advisor to Owners, Chairs & Boards
“My professional path has run between business, technology research centres, family ownership and the university. That cross-cutting perspective leads me to approach complex decisions through the connection between strategy, governance, ownership and the future.
I have always been drawn to being close to those who make strategic decisions, because owners and executives often shape the future of their organisations without being fully aware of it. That is why I steer clear of simple answers and try to understand what really lies behind each decision.”
Why Javier?
A career that is hard to pigeonhole.
Javier Iborra’s career does not follow a straight line, and that is where its advantage lies. It has developed at the intersection of strategy, governance, innovation and finance, across very different organisations and contexts. That combination is what he now brings to owners, Chairs and Boards.
Inside and outside
For years he advised companies from a technology centre. He then took on senior executive roles: leading new business development and the family office within a business group’s holding company, with a seat on its strategy committees and its family council. He understands the company from the inside and knows how to analyse it from the outside.
Theory and practice
He combines pragmatic execution with academic rigour. His research focuses on strategy and long-term business survival. That knowledge has turned into investment structures, new ventures and corporate strategic plans.
Foresight
The common thread of his career has been helping organisations decide under uncertainty. In 2006 he was part of the team that created CEFFOR, the furniture sector’s foresight system, which built future scenarios for the industry. He deepened his scenario planning practice during his stay at Saïd Business School, Oxford, and translated the Spanish edition of Strategic Reframing, with his own foreword.
Business, technology and academia
He has connected three engines of the economy: industrial and investment groups; a technology centre, where he worked in competitive intelligence and foresight units, with international research stays in Canada; and the university, where he coordinates the Business Lab at Universidad Europea.
Selected milestones
Senior leadership
Head of new business development and of the family office within an industrial group’s holding company, with a seat on its strategy committees and family council.
Foresight
Strategy consulting and foresight at AIDIMA (now AIDIMME). Deputy director of its foresight centre and part of the team that created CEFFOR, the furniture sector’s foresight system, in 2006.
Research
Visiting academic at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Research stay at FPInnovations (Canada). Doctoral candidate at Universitat de València.
Publications
Author of El Consejo Estratégico. Translator of El Replanteamiento Estratégico, with his own foreword. Book chapter on AI in strategic management (Dykinson).
University
Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation and coordinator of the Business Lab at Universidad Europea. MBA faculty.
Corporate governance
Postgraduate education in Boards of Directors and good governance, and in family wealth management. Member of the Instituto de Gobernanza Empresarial.
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