Governance Bodies
The association is governed by the following bodies:
- The General Assembly: holds the maximum powers and has capacity of delegation.
- The Executive Committee: the General Assembly delegates on the Executive Committee the management of the association.
Regina Llopis
Honorary President
Regina Llopins
Regina Llopis is WA4STEAM co-founder and Honorary President. UC.BERKELEY Mathematics Ph.D. in AI, IESE PADE. Group AIA founder and President for 35y transferring basic science and AI (ML & Data Analytics) solutions to leading Companies including NASA, Building Algorithms for a Better World. Oxford Physics Department Development Board (2022-Present), Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry’s ST&I Advisory Committee (2019-2023), AEBAN VP (2019-2021). Recognitions: 2017 Ada Byron Award for Women in Technology, Deusto University (Spain), 2020 World of Difference Awards, The International Alliance for Women, TIAW (USA), 2024 EBAN Europe’s 25 Top women in angel investing (Belgium).
Executive Commitee Officers
Blanca Ochoa Gómez
President
Blanca Ochoa
Blanca Ochoa is co-founder and President of Women Angels for STEAM (WA4STEAM) as well as an investor in technology and proptech startups, advisor and lawyer.
After working as a lawyer at the international firm Clifford Chance specializing in complex multi-jurisdictional real estate and commercial transactions, in 2019 she began a new professional career, as an investor in startups and as an advisor. She has completed the Senior Business Management Program (PADE) at IESE Business School (2020), the IESE-AED-KPMG School of Directors course and the Expert course in Sustainable Development, Ethics of Organizations and Corporate Social Responsibility ( 2022), among others.
María Isabel Ortiz García
Vicepresident
Maribel Ortiz García
Born in 1968, Master in Telecommunications Engineering by Madrid Politechnical University, PDG by IESE Business School in 2006 and Women on Board Program by IESE Business School in 2017. Fluent in Spanish (Mother tongue), French, English and German. Spend 1 Year in R&D, then 5 years in a distributor, Telekec Spain, where I started as Junior support engineer, moved to sales and finalized running the Telecom and Systems Business unit for 2 years before becoming General Manager at a Vendor, GN NetTest, Danish company. There I led for 6 years direct and indirect sales for South and Central Europe, managed acquisition and integration of Photonetics on the Spanish market and drove the final integration with Anritsu when they acquired NetTest Mid 2005. Joined Viavi (JDSU) at that time in Feb 2006 to develop their channel Business in EMEA. Since then, major milestones have been: Driving market segmentation and Go to Market clarity in direct and indirect business, developing channel sales tools, Training and Channel management CV, driving verticalized channel sales in EMEA for 3 years, creating first global virtual channel team and drafting preliminary global program prior to Velocity launch. Actively contributing to overall Viavi channel strategy and currently implementing as channel Director (last 6 years) Velocity Program in EMEA.
Member of WA4STEAM since April 2019, I’m Vice president of WA4STEAM since January 2022. Board Member of WA4STEAM SLU since January 2022.
Adjunct Professor at IE University for Technology since 2023.
Isabel de Otaola Ubieta
Secretary
Isabel de Otaola
Isabel is secretary of Women Angels for STEAM (WA4STEAM). She graduated with a Law Degree and a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Comillas Pontificia University (Madrid, Spain). She is also a Certified Public Accountant from the Instituto Censores Jurados de Cuentas and has obtained a Tax LLM from Centro de Estudios Tributarios. She is a member of the Madrid Bar Association since 1986.
Isabel has been a partner at Baker McKenzie’s Madrid office since 1999 and is a member of the Firm’s European Tax, Transfer Pricing and Global Reorganizations Practice Groups. She is assigned to the Healthcare and TMT industry groups. Before joining Baker McKenzie, she worked at KPMG.
She is highly proficient in international taxation and transactional tax planning, mergers, and acquisitions, particularly in cross-border investments, corporate restructuring processes, both in the pre and post-acquisition phase, including due diligences and the design of supply chain multinational structures (renewable energy, pharmaceutical, distribution, software and IT companies). She is also experienced in preparing equity incentives arrangements for top executives and expatriates.
She is responsible of Corporate Social Responsibility /Sustainability at Baker Mckenzie Madrid
Isabel regularly lectures in conferences and seminars and has been a professor in various Spanish Institutions (Instituto de Empresa, ICADE, IFE, IFAES, etc.) She has authored several articles and publications particularly for BNA’s Tax Management International Forum and Bloomberg.
Marisol Santana Valencia
Vicesecretary
Marisol Santana
Marisol is the Vicesecretary of WA4STEAM since January 2024 and associate since 2019.
She holds a Business Degree by University of Valladolid, and MBA by Instituto de Empresa. Marisol is expert in business transformation through her financial background and culture change. She has developed her career in companies such as Abengoa and Alvarez&Marsal.
Curious about technology trends and innovation, Marisol has received training in Digital Business and Exponential Technologies from Singularity University in Silicon Valley.
Committed to diversity, sustainability and entrepreneurship, she is business angel in different investors groups, coach, and mentor.