Maite Ibarretxe

Senior Executive, Sustainability Strategy & Innovation

Dr. Maite Ibarretxe is a sustainability and innovation executive, academic, and consultant, leading the co-creation of strategies that drive sustainable solutions powered by climate finance and embed sustainability and innovation into organisations' DNA. She does so by creating Labs, collaborative platforms that orchestrate teams, ideas, and resources to create leverage and maximise returns. She is Senior Executive for Sustainability Strategy & Innovation at UIBS and the University of Monaco, and Managing Partner of IBARRETXE Associates Advisory. Her career spans the private, public, academic, and non-profit sectors, with a track record at Q8-Kuwait Petroleum, EIT-Climate-KIC, C&A, the International Water Association, the Embassy of Peru, and Abengoa-Schneider Electric, shaping strategies that unite environmental responsibility with social impact and economic value. She is Professor of Sustainable Business and Chair of the Examination Board at UIBS Amsterdam, and Visiting Professor at the University of Monaco and ITESO Jesuit University in Mexico. She serves as Board Trustee at Desert Leaves Foundation and Social Innovation Academy, is an EU Climate Pact Ambassador, and is a member of the Women Climate Leaders Network (WCLN) of the European Investment Bank. Her research has been presented across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. She is internationally recognised for creating The Leverage Wheel, a framework grounded in Excellence, Trust, and Innovation that helps leaders embed sustainability into their DNA while fostering entrepreneurial growth. She was named a Sustainability Visionary Leader at the Forttuna Excellence Awards, UAE, in 2025, and appears on the 2025 Top 100 Power List of Forttuna Global Magazine UAE and of The Analytical Scientist. She is a contributing author to Harvard journals with articles such as "Strategic Orchestration as a driver to create new shared value" and "Leadership lessons from Machiavelli enhanced by Strategic Orchestration". She holds a PhD in Business Law (Deusto-Heidelberg), an MBA in Business Innovation (Deusto-Cambridge Judge), and is certified by INSEAD in Blue Ocean Strategy and by Harvard in Creating Shared Value.