MEMBERS OF THE HONORARY BOARD
Pablo BRAVO
He is a Spanish diplomat. Bachelor's Degree in Law, he entered the Diplomatic Career in 1970. He has been assigned to the Spanish diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He was Consul General of Spain in Stuttgart and Tangier, Vice President of the Spanish Section of the Hispanic-North American Committee and Commissary General of the Spanish Section at the Universal Exhibition in Hannover 2000. He was Ambassador on Special Mission and Advisor Member in the Technical Office of the Undersecretary of foreign affairs. In June 2006 he became Ambassador on Special Mission for the Year of Spain in China and in 2009 he was appointed Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Eugenio BREGOLAT
Spanish diplomat, former ambassador of Spain in China with concurrence also in Mongolia.
Bachelor's degree in Law from the University of Barcelona, he entered the Diplomatic Career in 1971, graduating in International Studies. He was Director of Studies in the cabinet of the Prime Minister with Adolfo Suárez and Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. He has been assigned to Spanish diplomatic representations in the Soviet Union and Hannover, and as Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia, Canada, Russia and Andorra. In addition, he was Political Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1997 and 1999. The Government appointed him special ambassador for the Universal Forum of Culture Barcelona 2004, and a year later he held the position of Spanish ambassador to Andorra. He has been the Spanish ambassador to China three times: from 1986 to 1991, from 1999 to 2003 and from January 2011-present. He is also a contributor to newspapers such as La Vanguardia and El Imparcial.
Rosa María CALAF
Born in Barcelona on June 17, 1945. Bachelor's degree in Law and Journalism. She was the correspondent with the longest and most varied career on TVE, with a 25-year career abroad.
She opened correspondents' offices for the Soviet Union, for the countries of the East-Balkans and for the Asia-Pacific region. She restructured the correspondents' office South America. She has also been a correspondent in New York, Rome and Peking.
She was part of the TVE staff from 1970 to 2009. She was a member of the founding team of the Catalan television channel TV3.
She has three Honorary PhDs and more than 30 awards, among which it is worth remarking: ONDAS Award, National Prize for Journalism of Catalonia, "A TODA UNA VIDA" from the Television Academy, Women Together from the United Nations, Gold Medal RED CROSS 2017 delivered by HM the Queen, Lady's Ribbon of the Order of Civil Merit.
Luis COBOS
He is a Spanish musician, composer and conductor. He is currently president of the management entity of Performing Artists (AIE) and president of the Latin Recording Academy. He has more than 100 Gold, Platinum and Diamond records. His sales exceed 15 million copies. Luis Cobos has conducted many orchestras around the world: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra (USA), Peking Symphony Orchestra (China), European Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic (Japan) , National Orchestra of Spain, United Nations Symphony Orchestra, Young Ibero-American Symphony Orchestra, among others. As musical director and producer, he has worked with: Plácido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Pedro Vargas, José Carreras, Mecano, Antonio Banderas, Paco de Lucía, Ana Belén, Nino Bravo, Joaquín Sabina, Antonio Flores, among others.
Taciana FISAC
Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She is a lecturer of East Asian Studies, specialised in Chinese Language and Literature. Her work has been essential for the development of official East Asian studies at Spanish universities. She has been a visiting researcher, among others, at the universities of Stanford, Oxford, Leiden, North Carolina and Ohio as well as at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and Peking University of Foreign Studies. In February 2018, she was appointed Distinguished Professor at The Open University of Hong Kong. She is the author of numerous publications, mainly on gender, literature, and society in China, in addition to translations of Chinese literature. In 2005 she received the appointment of honorary professor at the University of Foreign Studies in Peking, and in 2012 the China Special Book Award for her contribution to the dissemination of Chinese literature, awarded by the authorities of the People's Republic of China. She received the Cátedra China Award in 2016.
Emilio LAMO DE ESPINOSA
PhD in Law from the Complutense University and PhD in Sociology from the University of California-Santa Barbara (1979). Professor of Sociology at the Complutense University until his retirement. He is currently president of the Elcano Royal Institute, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Complutense University, Full Academician of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, regular contributor to the press (El País, ABC), and patron or advisor to numerous foundations (Spain-United States Council Foundation, Spanish Political Transition Foundation, Fernando Pombo Foundation, Prince of Girona Foundation and Botín Foundation). He was awarded the Jovellanos International Essay Prize (1996), the XI Otto of Habsburg Prize (2014), the National Prize for Sociology and Political Science (2017), the XXVII FIES Prize for Journalism (2017), and the Julián Marías Award from the Community of Madrid (2018), among other recognitions. He is Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Salamanca (2012).
Larry LEVENE
He is a lawyer, producer, director and scriptwriter for several films and documentaries. Through his own independent company Es.Docu, he has developed an intense documentary production career: Social issues, history and politics. 40 hours of documentaries as a producer, director and screenwriter in the last 20 years. Many of them on Chinese topics and shot in China, which is the reason why he knows many of the Chinese territories and studied their history in depth. His documentaries have received various international awards, for instance, the ONDAS Award -In the Labyrinth of Tibet- or best photography at the Shanghai Festival -Sadhus-.
He currently produces fiction films: Kathmandu, Thi Mai and 4Latas; the last two available on Netflix. He has in co-production with China Dragonkeeper -a 3D CGI animation film- and in preparation -The Key to My Wedding-.
Cristina MANZANO
Bachelor's degree in Information Science from the Complutense University of Madrid. She studied a postgraduate course at the University of Maryland (United States). She is the director of Esglobal and a columnist for El País and El Periódico de Catalunya. She is also the editorial coordinator of the magazine Pensamiento Iberoamericano, edited by Segib. She has been a talk show host for HOY, by Iñaki Gabilondo, on CNN+ and deputy director general of the Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue (FRIDE). Specialised in economic journalism, she was an editor and correspondent in the United States for Ranking magazine. She is a member of the Spanish Council of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations), the Scientific Council of the Elcano Royal Institute, the Board of Trustees of the Education for Employment Europe Foundation and of the Alliance for Solidarity and the Board of Directors of the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome.
Federico MAYOR ZARAGOZA
Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Complutense University of Madrid (1958). Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Granada in 1963, and rector of said University between 1968 and 1972. He was appointed vice president of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in 1971 and later acting president (1972-1973). Co-founder of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CBMSO)in 1974 and its director until 1978.
He held political positions: Undersecretary of Education and Science of the Spanish Government (1974-75), member of the Spanish Parliament (1977-78), advisor to the President of the Government (1977-78), Minister of Education and Science (1981-82) and Member of the European Parliament (1987), Deputy Director General of UNESCO (1978), Director General of UNESCO (1987-1999). Founder and president of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace since 2000. Co-chair of the High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations – UN, (2005). President of the Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE) (2007).
Andrés ORTEGA
Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master's degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Correspondent in London and Brussels and columnist and editorialist for the newspaper El País. He was Director-Founder of the magazine Foreign Policy in Spanish (2004). In the government of Felipe González he served as advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Fernández Ordóñez (1989) and later director of the Department of Studies of the Presidency of the Government (1994-1996). He was awarded the Salvador de Madariaga Award for European Journalism in 2002. In 2008 he was Director of the Department of Analysis and Studies, a position he held until the end of the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2011. Since 2012, he has been the Director of the Observatory of Ideas and Senior Researcher Associate of the Elcano Royal Institute, where he writes weekly on the blog El Espectador Global.
Gonzalo ORTIZ
Bachelor's degree in Law and Economic Science, he started the Diplomatic Career in 1973. He has been assigned to the Spanish diplomatic representations in Germany, Japan and China. He was Deputy Director General of the Foreign Service and Deputy Director General of Bilateral Economic Relations with European Countries and European Free Trade Zones. He has been Consul General of Spain in Rio de Janeiro; advisor to the Presidency of the Congress of Deputies; Consul General of Spain in Sydney, and Vice President of the Spanish Section of the Hispanic-American Permanent Committee. In November 2002, he was appointed as Ambassador of Spain in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and, later, Second in Command at the Embassy of Spain in India. He was a Technical Adviser in the General Directorate of Foreign Policy for non-community Europe and North America and Consul General of Spain in Shanghai.
Alfredo PASTOR
PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1973), he is Professor Emeritus in the IESE Department of Economics. His areas of specialisation are the European Union, Spanish economic policy, the role of the state in a market economy and the Chinese economy.
He has been Secretary of State for the Economy of the Spanish Government (1993-1995), Director of planning and General Director of the National Institute of Industry (INI, 1983-1985), president of ENHER (1985-1990), director of the Bank of Spain (1990-1993), Country Economist of the World Bank (1980-1981), among others. He has been a professor of Economic Theory since 1976.
After joining IESE in 1996, Alfredo Pastor also joined the faculty of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS, Shanghai), of which he was dean between 2001 and 2004.
Alicia RELINQUE
Specialist in classical Chinese literature of international prestige; professor, researcher and translator of classical Chinese. Bachelor's degree in Law (UAM), Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Sinology (U. Paris 7), with four years at the University of Peking. PhD from the University of Granada. Visiting researcher and/or professor at the universities of Harvard (USA), SOAS (UK), City University (Hong Kong) and Peking University. Participant in multiple national and international conferences. Translator of the novel Jin Ping Mei in verse and prose (16th century) and the drama The Pavilion of Peonies by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616). In 2017, she won the Cátedra China award, the Special Book Award from the Chinese Government, and the Marcela de Juan Literary Translation Award from the IC Barcelona Foundation and the UAB.
José Luis RODRÍGUEZ ZAPATERO
He has been the President of the Government of Spain (2004-2011) and General Secretary of the PSOE (2000-2012). Currently, he chairs the Socially Responsible Contracting Forum, and is a member of the Royal Board on Disability and the Board of Trustees of CERMI Mujeres, the Club of Madrid and the International Commission against the Death Penalty.
As President of the Government, he officially visited China three times, a country with which he forged a strategic association agreement with Spain in 2005, so that the latter would become the best European ally of the Asian nation. Subsequently, invited by institutions and departments of the Chinese Government, he has participated in various meetings in Spain and China. He has been part of debates and conferences on relations between the two countries and also between the EU and China, as well as on their global position.
Manuel VALENCIA
Diplomat, specialised in international economic and commercial affairs. Counselor at the Spanish embassies in Morocco and the Netherlands, General Director of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the private sector, he has been a member of the Boards of Directors of IBERPISTAS SA, CASTELLANA DE AUTOPISTAS SA, ABERTIS MADRID, ABERTIS REFLECTION GROUP, CONSTRUCCIONES AERONÁUTICAS SA, ACE SL, among others. He is currently Vice President of TECNICAS REUNIDAS INTERNACIONAL SA, Vice President of the Exporters Club and INCIPE. He has been in contact with China since his first trip in 1984, later being Co-Chairman of the Spanish-Chinese Committee of the Chambers of Commerce, member of the Spain-China Council Foundation, and Spanish Ambassador to China 2013-2017.