Honorary members

The Spanish Bioindustry Association (AseBio) awards honorary membership to people who, given their career and professional prestige, have made a notable contribution to the development of biotechnology and promotion of R&D.

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero 2
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Former President

President of Spain from 2004 to 2011. In his first term, he created the Economic Office of the President of the Spanish Government, which first laid out measures designed to modernise the Spanish R&D system. During his second term, he created the Ministry of Science and Innovation and named Cristina Garmendia as its Minister.

Miguel Sebastián
Miguel Sebastián
Former Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade

Economist, professor, PhD from the University of Minnesota (US) and Spanish politician. He was head of the Economic Office of the President of the Spanish Government from 2004 to 2006. In President Zapatero’s second term, he was Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade from 2008 to 2011. From the Economic Office of the President of the Spanish Government, he made a firm commitment to changing the production model based on factors of demand, making R&D a core policy. 

María Luisa Poncela
Maria Luisa Poncela
Former Secretary-general for Science, Technology and Innovation

Since 1998, she has been deputy director-general for Promotion of Industrial Innovation and Technology Programmes, head of the Technical Cabinet for the Secretariat-General for Industry and deputy director-general for Regional Incentives. She has also served as coordinating inspector for the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade and director of the Cabinet of the Secretary-General for Innovation. In January 2012, she was named director-general for Technology Transfer and Business Development and in February 2012, director-general for Innovation and Competitiveness, and in 2013 she was secretary-general for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Ana Sánchez Nuevo
Ana Sánchez-España
Former Head of Health Department in the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness

Programme Management director and head of Health Department in the Secretariat-General for Public-Private Partnership under the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness in 2015. She was part of the Ministry of Industry in 1999.

Juan Carlos Mampaso
Juan Carlos Mampaso
CEO, SIGRE

From 1986 to 1996, he was deputy director-general for the Directorate-General for Construction and related Industries, under the then Ministry of Industry and Energy. And from 1996 to 2001, he was deputy director-general for Technological Programmes, under the then Ministry of Science and Technology. He is currently CEO of SIGRE (the Integrated Management System for the pharmaceutical sector). 

Emilio Muñoz
Emilio Muñoz
Former President, CSIC

Emilio was the driving force for creating AseBio in 1999, aware that Spain needed an association to promote development of the country’s biotechnology sector. He has guided the growth and consolidation of AseBio, acting as chairman of the scientific committee and advisor to the Board of Directors. 

José Tomás García Maldonado
José Tomás García Maldonado
Chairman of AseBio (2000)
Fernando Royo
Fernando Royo
Chairman of AseBio (2001-2004)

Fernando Royo has a degree in the biopharmaceutical industry from the Autonomous University of Madrid and an MBA from INSEAD business school (France). He has held in various positions in clinical research, marketing and strategic planning at multinational corporations in the sector. In 1993, he joined Genzyme, a British biotechnology company that had just begun its international expansion and activity in Spain. Just a few years later, in 1999, he joined the initiative to create a professional association in Spain for the very few and very diverse companies in the sector, which ended up becoming AseBio.

Cristina Garmendia
Cristina Garmendia
Chairwoman of AseBio (2005-2008)
Regina Revilla Pedreira
Regina Revilla Pedreira
Chairwoman of AseBio (2011-2015)
Jordi Martí Pi-Figueras
Jordi Martí Pi-Figueras
Chairman of AseBio (2016-2019)