Guillermo Cisneros Garrido

Born in Spain, he holds a doctorate in Economic Science from the University of Barcelona, as well as other post-graduate degrees from different international universities, including Harvard Business School and Babson College. He is also a CFA charter-holder. Cisneros has become a renowned expert in education at an international level, as well as an entrepreneur in his own right and has developed an international career in project management in the area of corporate training and higher education.

The early part of his career was focused in the field of Marketing, promoting diverse entrepreneurial ventures as well consulting for many national and international organizations. Since 1987 he has been a professor at ESADE responsible for the creation of numerous programs, activities, and research centres. From 2000 to 2005 he became part of ESADE’s senior leadership in a moment of strategic crossroad for the institution. As executive director of ESADE in Madrid, he led the launch of the business school campus in the Spanish capital and its positioning at an international level. He was also Deputy Managing Director of ESADE, heading the corporate and institutional development activities of the whole institution during a process of intense transformation and progression of ESADE within international rankings.

In 2005, he joined the Santander Group as Chief Learning Officer, driving the development of the group’s corporate university, the executive education and the Group’s training policy during its evolution from a multi-local to a global organization. The Santander Corporate University quickly became an important element in spreading the Santander Culture, preparing its executives for leadership challenges and creating an integrated training strategy, including a global learning management platform. Santander group was distinguished as one of the world’s top 100 best learning performance institutions by Bersin Associates and became part of the exclusive group of Corporate Universities holding the CLIP accreditation. He then became Senior Vice President and Chief Learning Officer of the international group FIAT, a position that was an important step in his international career and which he held from 2008 until joining Berklee.

As a leader in his field, he has participated in numerous processes of accreditation of international business schools and is a corporate reviewer for EQUIS accreditation (European Foundation for Management Development) in addition to advising various public and private institutions on internationalization in education, talent, leadership development and knowledge management.

Cisneros believes in the importance of entrepreneurial spirit and leading by example he has pursued a career driving new educational and business initiatives: he is a founding board member of AJUS (Academics at Jesuit Universities and Schools); on the editorial board of LID Editorial Empresarial (Business Editorial); and has also served as trustee and director on the board of several institutions.

Cisneros’ current mission is to make contemporary music education and the Berklee approach to teaching both accessible and affordable to all across the world. Highlights to date include: the launch of Berklee’s first international campus for master’s programs launched in 2012 in Valencia, Spain; extending the Berklee on the Road (BOR) initiative to offer special contemporary music programs in a number of new countries, including Berklee Latino the college’s first program taught in Spanish; and further extending the Berklee International Network of contemporary music schools, colleges and universities across the globe, from 13 to 19 partners.