Javier Rodríguez Zapatero

Javier Rodríguez Zapatero is executive chairman and co-founder of ISDI (Instituto Superior para el Desarrollo de Internet), Spain's first native digital business school, which now operates six schools under the Digitalent group in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Mexico and Silicon Valley. For almost nine years (2008-2016), he was managing director of Google Spain, Portugal, Turkey and the Middle East, during which time he turned Google Spain into one of Google Europe's best subsidiaries and revolutionised its commercial strategy through YouTube and mobile advertising. An economist by training (specialising in finance) with a postgraduate degree in auditing, he has spent his entire career in digital ecosystems, including executive roles at Yahoo! Iberia (where he was VP of Sales Europe). As a speaker, he focuses on how Spanish organisations and society must complete the digital transformation in order not to be left behind in the 21st-century economy, with an emphasis on training digital talent and public-private collaboration.