Dr Avencia Sánchez-Mejías, co-founder and CEO of Integra Therapeutics, won the first edition of the Women and Leadership Award promoted by Deusto Business School, Cinco Días and Banco Santander to boost and raise awareness of the talent of female executives at companies and in entrepreneurship. The ceremony was held on 2 June at the business school’s Madrid (Spain) headquarters.

Sánchez-Mejías was chosen from among more than 80 candidates by a panel of judges comprised of Belén Frau, Global Communication manager at Ikea; Patricia Arias, regional director for the Basque Country at Banco Santander; Matías Alonso, vice-chairman of the Deusto Business School Advisory Board; Mónica de Oriol, member of the Deusto Business School Advisory Board and president of Net4Things; Paz Álvarez, editor of the Fortune section at Cinco Días newspaper; and Almudena Eizaguirre, general director of Executive Education at Deusto Business School.

“I’m accepting this award with a great sense of responsibility and I hope to be a role model for women, and men too, from the coming generations. It is also a great opportunity to continue my training in executive skills,” explained Dr Avencia Sánchez-Mejías when she received the award.

The panel of judges awarded second prize to Natalia Rodríguez, CEO of Saturno Labs, and a special mention to Gloria Gubianas, co-founder of Hemper Handmade; Pilar Mañas, major in the Spanish Air Force; and Marina Jiménez, a project engineer in the Water Technology and Engineering Department at Aqualia. Cristina Burzako, CEO of Movistar, was also recognised for her distinguished career.

This video shows the ceremony and speech by Dr Avencia Sánchez-Mejías.