Isabel Pardo de Vera Posada (born 1975) 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 The Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing (SEITV) is a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Development (Spain), Ministry of Development of the Government of Spain. The SEITV is appointed by the King of Spain at the pro ...

from 2021 to 2023.

Personal life

Pardo de Vera was born in

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

, Galicia. Her father was the first democratically elected mayor of Becerreá in the

Province of Lugo Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the nor ...

for the People's Alliance and her sister Ana became a journalist.

Education

Pardo de Vera finished her studies in road, canal and port engineering at

University of A Coruña The University of A Coruña ( gl, Universidade da Coruña) is a Spanish public university located in the city of A Coruña, Galicia. Established in 1989, university departments are divided between two primary campuses in A Coruña and nearby Fer ...

in July 2001. She completed an MBA from the Instituto de Educación Superior Intercontinental de la Empresa in 2007 graduated from

ESADE Business School ESADE Business School is a private college and graduate school located in Barcelona, Spain. It is part of ESADE (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Escola Superior d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses'', Spanish: ''Escuela Superior de Administración ...

in 2009.

Career

Pardo 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 The Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line is a high-speed railway line in Spain that links the city of Madrid with the region of Galicia via the cities of Olmedo, Zamora, Ourense and Santiago de Compostela. The line also connects the Atlantic ...

. In 2015, she took leave from ADIF to be Director of Mobility and Infrastructure for the provincial deputation of the

Province of Pontevedra Pontevedra is a province of Spain along the country's Atlantic coast in southwestern Europe. The province forms the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, and Ourense, th ...

, returning in 2016. In June 2018, Pardo de Vera became the first woman to be president of ADIF. In July 2018, she was named

in the government of

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE). 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 eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

and

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

. 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.

Awards

* Monforte Railway Award (2018) * Gold Medal of the City of

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...

(2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pardo de Vera, Isabel 1975 births Living people People from Lugo University of A Coruña alumni Spanish women engineers 21st-century women engineers