Head of Fundraising, Barcelona Activa

 Elena del Rey Santamaría is currently Head of Fundraising and Institutional Cooperation at Barcelona Activa, the executive tool for the implementation of the Economic Development policies of the Barcelona City Council.

She has extensive professional experience in the execution of economic policies at local, regional and international levels. The main policies developed include entrepreneurship and business support, job creation, foreign talent and investment attraction, as well as the promotion of public-private partnerships in strategic sectors and areas.

Prior to that, she worked at the Ministry of Economy of the government of Valencia (Spain) for the management of different EU territorial cooperation programmes. She also gained widespread experience in multilateral organisations, working for the European Commission; and in the private sector, working for consultancy firms.

She is a lawyer and has a master’s degree in European studies from the Université Catholique de Laouvain (Belgium). She is also a postgraduate in Strategy and Regional competitiveness of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.