Committees

Graduate in Physical Sciences from the UPV/EHU and MBA from the ESEUNE Business School. Over 20 years of experience in iron and steel and metal-mechanic sector. He started his professional career at SIDENOR I+D in the new product development department. He continued his professional career within the group at FORJANOR, a company devoted to the forging of parts for the automotive sector. At this stage, he carried out the functions of Production and Maintenance Director for at least 8 years. In his second professional stage at TECNALIA, he held diverse positions until he became Head of Business Development for the iron and steel sector. His objective was to develop innovation projects in the sector. He later became Sales Manager at SARRALLE, in the Iron and Steel Equipment Division. Currently, he holds the Sales Manager position at ALFE CUTTING, devoted to the manufacture of cutting tools for the iron and steel sector and services centres in the value chain.

Pello Uranga is the Deputy Director of the Material and Manufacturing Division at CEIT and lecturer at Tecnun (University of Navarra). He is an engineer in materials (1998) and doctor in engineering (2002) from the University of Navarra. His research activity focuses on the thermo-mechanical processing and modelling of the micro-structural evolution of steel. He has published more than 150 technical papers in journals and international conferences, having received 5 international awards. He has also participated in more than 50 research projects, most of them industrial projects. He is an active member of professional associations, such as AIST (Association of Iron and Steel Technology) and TMS (The Mineral, Metals and Materials Society), as well as an evaluator for different European Commission programmes and university programmes for ANECA and ABET (USA).

Eduardo Bilbao Urtasun, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the industrial sector, holds a degree in Chemical Sciences, specialising in Chemical Engineering, from the University of the Basque Country. He has also received specialist training in metallurgy and steel production in electric steelworks. After holding various positions of responsibility at various companies in the iron and steel sector, he is currently Head of Technology and Steel Manufacturing Processes in the Metals & Minerals division of IDOM CONSULTING ENGINEERING ARCHITECTURE.

Industrial engineer from the Higher Technical School of Engineering of Bilbao. He began his professional career at the Acenor R&D Group. He was a researcher in the Product Department for 3 years, working on the development of steel for machining and cold forming. He carried out production tasks as Head of Hot Rolling at Acenor’s Larrondo plant for one year. In 1990, he joined the company’s Quality Department, which later became Aceros Inoxidables Olarra. Since then, he has been Quality Manager at Aceros inoxidables Olarra. Over the years, he has participated in many research projects related to the development of new qualities and process improvement. During this period, he has combined his responsibilities in the Quality Department with the management of the environment and energy area, as well as the IT Department at Olarra. As Quality Director at Olarra, he focuses on the development of long stainless steel products with advanced properties that meet new market requirements.

Jose Miguel Ulibarri, who has more than 25 years’ experience in organisations in the field of Strategic Management and Human Resources, holds a degree in Business and Administration with a specialisation in International Business from Schiller International University, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from ESEUNE and the Instituto de Empresa. He has extensive experience in the areas of institutional relations and implementation of strategic guidelines in the various companies at which he has worked; he is currently Director of Corporate HR and Management Development at SIDENOR ACEROS ESPECIALES S.L.

Borja Peña Quintero, a graduate in industrial engineering from the UPV/EHU and Materials Engineer from the UP/EHU, with fourteen years’ experience, began his professional career at the LABEIN Foundation, which years later became the TECNALIA Foundation, developing and coordinating local, national and European R&D projects covering all stages of the steel industry from the transformation of raw materials to the final product. He is currently responsible for technological development in the iron and steel sector at TECNALIA, assessing technological requirements according to Tecnalia’s capabilities. Throughout his years’ experience he has acquired skills in: metallographic analysis; mechanical characterisation of materials; design and manufacture of alloys, including on a semi-industrial scale; commissioning metal alloy manufacturing devices; thermal and thermomechanical testing and treatment; experience in acquiring temperature profiles in the industrial field; FEM & CFD simulation applied to iron and steel processes.

Santiago Oliver is the Director of Sustainability, Energy and Innovation at UNESID, the Spanish Association of Steel Producers and First Transformation, and the Secretary of the Management Committee of PLATEA, the Spanish Steel Technology Platform.

He has a degree in mining engineering, specialising in metallurgy and mineralogy (materials engineer), natural risks, from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and another in environmental engineering and management from the EOI, and has completed a specialist course in water management in rural environments from the CSIC.

After two years at an automotive company, he worked for a further two years at a Spanish steel company, and then at Eurofer in Brussels, before coming to UNESID.

He is a member of the Steel Advisory Group for managing EU RFCS innovation funds, of the ESTEP Council and other European Commission advisory committees, and of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and of UNE standardisation; CEN and ISO of a horizontal nature on Climate Change, Environment, Sustainable Finance, Circular Economy, and other exclusively steel-related issues.

He is a member of the Board of Euroslag (European Steel Slag Association), and of several Eurofer Committees and WGs in the area of action (from climate change to chemicals policy), having chaired some of them.