Laura Guitart Tarrés, tenured professor in the Department of Business, director of the UB Chair of Family Business, and until now Academic Vice-Dean, has taken office as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Barcelona in a ceremony held at the historic building on 19 June 2025.
Guitart Tarrés is a researcher with the Business Research Group (SGR 0361), head of the Teaching Innovation Group on Learning Tools in Business Management (G·IDEA), and co-director of the Executive MBA lifelong learning programme. Outside academia, she also serves on the Board of Trustees of the CARES Foundation, an organisation that promotes job opportunities for people with disabilities and those at risk of social exclusion.
At the same ceremony, the new vice-deans and the Faculty secretary also took office:
• Academic Vice-Dean: Mònica Pigem Vigo
• Vice-Dean for Research, Doctoral Studies, and Social Impact: Pere Calleja Cortés
• Vice-Dean for Students, Employability, and Teaching Innovation: Esther Vayá Valcarce
• Vice-Dean for International Relations: Marta Panadés Guerrero
• Vice-Dean for Teaching, Teaching Resources, and Sustainability: Pilar López-Jurado González
• Academic Secretary: Montse Simó Solsona
The new team led by Laura Guitart Tarrés aims to position the Faculty of Economics and Business as a benchmark in university-level teaching and research. They will work intensively to address the main current challenges, such as: designing the new strategic plan and the upcoming reaccreditation of the Faculty; attracting, recruiting, and supporting the academic careers of young faculty members to ensure generational renewal; efficient management of space and adaptation to the new research group funding system; incorporating the most innovative European trends in programme design and managing the impact of demographic changes; organisational restructuring of the Faculty’s technical, administrative, and service staff (PTGAS); and promoting the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence tools in the university context.
