Isabel Pardo de Vera Posada (born 1975)[1] is a Spanish engineer. She was the first woman to be president of the state-owned railway company Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) from 2018 to 2021 and was Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing from 2021 to 2023.
Isabel Pardo de Vera Posada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing | |
| In office 28 July 2021 – 22 February 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Pedro Sánchez |
| Preceded by | Pedro Saura García |
| Succeeded by | Francisco David Lucas Parrón |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1975 (age 48–49) |
Personal life
editPardo de Vera was born in Lugo, Galicia. Her father Gerardo Pardo de Vera was the first democratically elected mayor of Becerreá in the Province of Lugo for the People's Alliance and her sister Ana became a journalist.[2]
Education
editPardo de Vera finished her studies in road, canal and port engineering at University of A Coruña in July 2001.[3] She completed an MBA from the Instituto de Educación Superior Intercontinental de la Empresa in 2007 graduated from ESADE Business School in 2009.[4]
Career
editPardo de Vera began working in 2007 for Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), the state-owned railway company. She had positions in the management of the Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line. In 2015, she took leave from ADIF to be Director of Mobility and Infrastructure for the provincial deputation of the Province of Pontevedra, returning in 2016.[3]
In June 2018, Pardo de Vera became the first woman to be president of ADIF.[5] In July 2018, she was named Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing in the government of Pedro Sánchez of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).[3]
Pardo de Vera resigned on 20 February 2023, as did Isaías Tabóas, the president of state railway operator Renfe. The trigger event for the resignations was the €258 million order of 31 trains for the mountainous northern autonomous communities of Asturias and Cantabria. The trains were ordered with dimensions too wide for the regions' tunnels; though these trains were not manufactured, the error put their estimated completion date back from 2024 to at least 2026.[6][7]
Awards
editReferences
edit- ^ "Isabel Pardo de Vera Posada" (in Spanish). Ministry of Development. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Martínez, Juan Carlos (3 July 2018). "El vertiginoso ascenso de las 'aristócratas' Pardo de Vera con el PSOE" [The dizzying rise of the Pardo de Vera 'aristocrats' with the PSOE]. El Español (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ a b c "El Consejo de Ministros nombra a Isabel Pardo de Vera nueva secretaria de Estado de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana" [Council of Ministers names Isabel Pardo de Vera new Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda] (in Spanish). Murcia.com. 27 July 2021. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ "Quién es quién en la economía española 2022" [Who's who in the Spanish economy 2022]. Expansión (in Spanish). 7 November 2022. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
- ^ "Isabel Pardo, nueva presidenta de Adif" [Isabel Pardo, new president of ADIF] (in Spanish). Renta 4. Europa Press. 28 June 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Symons, Angela (21 February 2023). "'Unspeakable botch': Spain spends €258 million on trains that are too big for its tunnels". Euronews. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Spender, Tom (21 February 2023). "Spain officials quit over trains that were too wide for tunnels". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ "Isabel Pardo de Vera, premio Monforte al Ferrocarril de este año" [Isabel Pardo de Vera, this year's Monforte Railway Award]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 13 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ Villar, Alba (14 October 2022). "Isabel Pardo de Vera recibe la Medalla de Oro de la Ciudad de Vigo" [Isabel Pardo de Vera receives the Gold Medal of the City of Vigo]. Faro de Vigo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.