Iñigo Ucín is president of the MONDRAGON Corporation. Graduate in Economics and Business Sciences and with a master's degree in Innovation Management from the University of Deusto. His professional career developed at DanobatGroup, where he worked as Financial Director and also as director of Human Resources.

In 1998 he was appointed manager of the Danobat cooperative, and later, in September 2012, vice president of the MONDRAGON Machine Tool Division and general director of DanobatGroup. Since June 2015, he combined this position with the vice presidency of the Industrial Automation Division and for the last 7 years he has been president of MONDRAGON

Víctor Meseguer (Murcia, 1990), serves as Special Commissioner for the Social Economy of the Spanish Government; a newly created unit in the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy.
Meseguer holds a degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He has also completed the Advanced Master in Interdisciplinary Analysis of European Construction, Institute of European Studies of the Free University of Brussels and has obtained a Master in Corporate Social Responsibility, University of Murcia.
The new special commissioner has extensive experience in the field of Social Economy.
Until February 2023 and since 2015, he served as Director of Social Economy Europe, the EU level organisation advancing the voice of the 2.8 million social economy enterprises and organisations in the EU. 
He has also been a Member of the European Commission's Expert Group on Social Economy and Social Enterprises since 2018 and technical advisor to the European Parliament's Social Economy Intergroup. Since 2022 he was Coordinator of the European Skills Alliance for the social economy and proximity ecosystem.
Royal Decree 782/2022, of 27 September, created the Special Commissioner for the Social Economy, with the rank of Under-State Secretary, which is responsible for the promotion and coordination of all projects related to the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation on Social Economy and Care (PERTE de la Economía Social y de los Cuidados), one of the 12 strategic projects established by the Spanish Government and funded through Recovery and Resilience Facility. 
Its functions include disseminating, promoting and encouraging policies and plans for the transformation of the value chains of the care and social economy sector; developing public-private alliances to guarantee access to and implementation of social and care economy projects; collaborating and encouraging Spain's international dialogue with regard to the implementation of the PERTE "Social Economy and Care", as well as in the field of other national and international strategies, actions and initiatives that affect Social Economy entities.
Meseguer also participates in the work of the commissions, working groups and collegiate bodies set up to address the needs arising from the phenomenon of population imbalance and will be responsible for carrying out any actions in relation to the social economy and care that may be necessary to promote the execution of the funds allocated to this area in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Corine van de Burgt was born in the Netherlands (1964) and currently lives in Amsterdam with her partner and two children. After working for several years in the healthcare sector she developed a strong vision on inclusion. Most of the vulnerable people she worked with did not have the possibility to join the workforce. She started working with enterprises and coached people with a distance to the labor market on the job. In practice she saw that vulnerable people performed very well in enterprises which had a strong social and inclusive working method.

Since 2004 Corine is working as director of the network foundation ‘De Omslag’ and in 2012 initiated a platform for Work Integration Social Enterprises. She noticed there was no focus at all on national or local level for these sorts of enterprises. She wanted to make an attractive ecosystem in Amsterdam for the Work Integration Social Enterprises. 
To achieve this, her organization De Omslag, shared knowledge and focused on: creating awareness, matching, monitoring, support, networking, advocacy, stimulating and making the sector visible.
In 2014 she joined ENSIE where she currently is President. The European Network of Social Integration Enterprises takes to its objective the representation, maintenance and development within Europe of networks and federations for Work Integration Social Enterprises.

Corine van de Burgt, Director Foundation De Omslag, Amsterdam:
“Since 2012 De Omslag has put social enterprises on the agenda in Amsterdam, a lot has changed. Social entrepreneurs in Amsterdam have become part of a movement of pioneers. Perhaps the most remarkable result is the transformation of the sector itself.”

Alessia Sebillo is the Executive Director of Diesis Network and an expert in education, training and anti-discrimination. She is responsible for the overall activities, the strategy and financial management, as well as promoting fair treatment, non-discrimination, and equal opportunities at the workplace by creating spaces for discussions, exchange of good practices, mutual learning, and cooperation. Before joining Diesis, she worked in the education and training sector in Italy supporting social inclusion of disadvantaged people linked to the cooperative movement and third sector. In the past, she has also been involved in activities promoting youth empowerment, equal opportunities, and human rights. 

Giuseppe Guerini Spokesperson for the Social Economy category of the EESC (European Economic and Social Committee). EESC member’s since September 2010 has been dealing in particular with the social economy and social enterprises, employment, finance for SMEs and social enterprises. 
President of CECOP-CICOPA Europa the European Confederation of Industrial Cooperatives and Social Cooperatives, representing some 50,000 companies with more than 1.3 million workers in Europe, member of the Board in CICOPA and Cooperatives Europe.
Vice-president of the Fondazione Comunità Bergamasca. A philanthropic foundation that provides funding for the social and cultural sectors in Bergamo.
Since 2010 until June 2018, he has been a national president of Confcooperative-Federsolidarietà.
He has been a social entrepreneur since 1988, when he started working as a base operator in a social cooperative. He has been an administrator in many social cooperatives and consortia. 
For 4 years he was a member of the Board of Directors of Cooperative Credit Bank. 
He is also a member of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture and Crafts Industry in Bergamo.

Since 2002, Director of European and International Affairs at Solidaris Mutualité in Belgium.

In 2008 and 2015 President of Social Economy Europe and since then Vice-President.

Since 2013 member of the Board of Directors of the Belgian Agency for Development Cooperation (ENABEL) and since 2021 Vice-President.

Since 2014 member of the European Commission Expert Group on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES) and since 2020 member as EESC representative.

Since 2015, member of the European Economic and Social Committee (CESE), Between 2015 and 2020 spokesperson for the social economy category and president of the permanent study group on social economy enterprises. Since 2020 Chairman of the Internal Market, Producer and Consumer Commission.

Since 2018, member of the Board of Directors of CIRIEC (Belgian and international section).

Since 2019, co-president of the International Social and Solidarity Economy Forum (ESS FI)

Anna Athanasopoulou is Head of Unit, ‘Proximity, Social Economy and Creative Industries’, at the European Commission.  An EU official since 2002, she has held different positions at services and Cabinet-level, relating to tourism and textiles, culture and creative industries, and external relations. Before joining the EU civil service, Anna worked as Adviser to two Ministers of Culture in Greece and as Director of Programme Planning for the Athens 2004 Cultural Olympiad. In parallel, she lectured on History of Art and Cultural Management. Anna studied Archaeology and specialised in History of Art where she holds an M.A. and a Ph.D.

Brigitte Fellahi-Brognaux is the Head of Unit for Inclusive and Social Entrepreneurship, promoting the social economy and social and inclusive entrepreneurship and designing policies and financial instruments to steer non-public sector investments for social objectives, within the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion in the European Commission. She joined DG EMPL in 2015, as Head of Unit for programming and the coordination of the EaSI programme, after several years as Head of Unit in the Directorate-General for Budget. She previously worked in the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. Before joining the European Commission in 1999, she was Head of Unit responsible for local budgets in the Home Office in France.

Anca Voinea is the International Editor of Co-operative News, a UK-based monthly news magazine and website for the global co-operative movement. She is also a member of Co-operatives UK's International Working Group and the editorial board of the UK Society for Co-operative Studies Journal. She has a first class degree in politics from Coventry University and an MA in Web Journalism from the University of Sheffield.

Katarzyna Pawlak, Microfinance Centre’s CEO has been serving on the Management Board of the MFC. She is an expert at GECES – Expert Group on Social Economy at the European Commission. Since 2014, she oversees the Centre’s strategic partnership with the DG EMPL at the European Commission. In the years 2005-2014, she served on the Board of Social Performance Task Force, USA and took an active role in developing global microfinance sector standards (Universal Standards for Social Performance Management). She also served on the Management Committee of European Financial Inclusion Network based in Brussels (2016-2018) and the Board of Partner Microcredit Foundation from Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006-2012). In 2009-2017, she was leading the SP Fund - a global USD 1,2 million fund financed by the Ford Foundation supporting over 50 microfinance associations and 500 microfinance institutions across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to mainstream the responsible finance standards locally. She was chosen “Woman of the Year 2008″ by the international organization Women Advancing Microfinance. She graduated with honors from Warsaw School of Economics and holds Canadian Executive MBA degree from the University of Quebec at Montreal/Warsaw School of Economics. In her free time, she is actively supporting local cooperatives and collectives based in Warsaw engaged in inclusive arts and culture activities as well as fair alternative food distribution. 

Cristina has spent her entire career in the financial sector, gathering a wide experience of the Central and Eastern Europe financial markets by working with both financial institutions but also final beneficiaries. After graduating the MBA program at Manchester Business School in 2005, Cristina entered into the microfinance arena, by working for the European Fund for Southeast Europe. Starting with 2013, she joined the Inclusive Finance Team at EIF, being directly involved in the implementation of the EU programs for microfinance and social entrepreneurship finance.

For more than 21 years, Angela Achitei has managed the ADV Romania Foundation, one of the biggest organisations specialized in social economy. She is one of the promoters of the social economy law in Romania and social entrepreneurship in the Republic of Moldova, having developed in time in ADV Group three social enterprises. She initiates the ADV Academy and 4 social innovation labs in Moldova and Ukraine to support young people in becoming social entrepreneurs. For the past 4 years, ADV has been a grants administrator, having contributed to establishing and financing 48 social enterprises in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. These enterprises are brought together in a social economy cluster. She is also one of the founding members of AFIN, the first non-bank financing institution in Romania dedicated to financing social enterprises.
Angela’s life motto is ”What we do every day …, practically defines our future!”. 

Mavi is specialist in self-employment, entrepreneurship and associated work; social economy, public policies to combat social exclusion and protection of vulnerable groups. She applies the gender perspective as a transversal methodological criterion in all of them.

Mert Fırat is a Turkish actor, public figure, patron, and an inspirational activist. Firat started his college studies in Stockholm, Sweden on filming and completed his undergraduate degree on Theatre Studies in Ankara, Turkey at Ankara University (DTCF). He earned his Masters degree on Film and Drama Studies from Kadir Has University in Istanbul, Turkey.
He has been on stage since his early university years. He is the founding partner of three theatre venues: DasDas and Moda Sahnesi in Istanbul and Sanat Mahal in Bursa. He is currently performing in “Joseph K”, “Deli Bayramı”, “Westend”, “Cyrano” and “Bütün Çılgınlar Sever Beni”. He has directed several plays including “Deli Bayramı”, “Timsah”, “Dünya Yerinden Oynar” and adapted plays including “Timsah”, “Joseph K” and “Benimle Dans Eder Misin”. 
He has been awarded several awards both in Turkey and around the world including his performances on the following movies: “Kelebeğin Rüyası”, “Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş”, “Atlıkarınca” and “Başka Dilde Aşk”. He is also the co-scriptwriter for “Başka Dilde Aşk”, “Atlıkarınca”, “Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş” and “Erkek Tarafı”. 
Fırat works voluntarily with several associations and foundations -both local and global- targeting social development. He is the co-founder of the award winning “NEEDSMAP” initiative. Needsmap works hand in hand with many other social impact initiatives, foundations, municipalities, the government and the civil sector. Needsmap; with over ninety thousand members and over ten thousand volunteers has several ongoing widespread campaigns including ‘One Rent One Scene’, ‘One Rent One Home’, ‘Reading for the Future’, and ‘Book on Map’.
Mert Firat is the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) first Goodwill Ambassador in Turkey.  He has been working with UNDP on the “global goals” since 2017. He is also an Ashoka Fellow.
His business fields rank widely; including the Turkish ticketing company “Mobilet” to “X Media” – the first digital art museum in Turkey; Fırat being the co-founder in both ventures. He is again the co-founder and in the board of the Theatre Coop and Inogar: a Turkish based social development Coop working in several countries.

After a degree in economics and a dissertation in social economics, Benedicte worked for a number of years at the Mission locale de Saint-Josse, where she was responsible for launching a social and professional integration project in the service voucher sector. For 6 years, motivated to anchor this project in the values of the social economy, she was the manager of this service, combining employment, training and social support for domestic helpers with the development of cleaning and ironing activities for clients.

After a few years, she decided to join ConcertES - the association of organisations representing the social economy in French-speaking Belgium - as deputy coordinator. She was responsible for coordinating and representing social economy federations.

At the end of 2020, increasingly motivated and convinced that social enterprises have an important role to play in ensuring the economic and social transition of our society, she became the General Secretary - a position she has now held for almost two years - to co-construct and debate the movement's cross-cutting issues and continue to carry the voice of the social economy.

Hubert Gambs is the Deputy Director-General & SME coordinator in the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission since July 2020. Before he was working in various areas of the Commission (maritime affairs and fisheries, regional policy, external relations and competition policy). Hubert is Austrian and studied law in Innsbruck, Paris and Madrid.

Pierre Hurmic was born on 10 April 1955 in Saint-Palais in the French Basque Country. He read politics and law at the Bordeaux Institute of Political Studies and after graduating in 1979 opened his own law firm in the city. During his time as a student he notably discovered the philosophy of the French intellectual Jacques Ellul, who he considers his greatest influence. After his studies, he became a lawyer and specialized in the defense of environmental activists, conscientious objectors, and political refugees. After various responsibilities in community organizations and trade unions, he decided to take an active role in politics in 1990 when he became a founding member of the political party “Ecology Generation”, before later joining “The Greens” in 1998. He was elected in 1995 to the Bordeaux city council and Greater Bordeaux metropolitan council. In order to advance the city’s and metropolis’ ecological transition, he fought for their political transition. After 25 years in the opposition, he was elected mayor of Bordeaux on 3 July 2020 with a list of candidates entitled “Bordeaux Breathes”. He has since declared the climate emergency as the guiding principle for the city of Bordeaux’s policies, and with his team of city councilors strives to make Bordeaux an ecological, socially innovative and responsible city. He is co-chairing the Global Forum for Social and Solidarity Economy (GSEF) since 2022.

Ana Umbelino is, since 2021, the President of the Board of REVES: European Network of Cities & Regions for the Social Economy.
She is a member of GECES - Expert group on social economy and social enterprises of the European Commission and was one the rapporteurs of the subgroup Clusters of Social and ecological innovation.
Ana is a deputy mayor in the municipality of Torres Vedras, Portugal, and integrates several national organizations boards and consultant committees in the fields of Participatory Democracy, Culture, Arts, Creativity and Heritage.

Graduate of Sciences Po Lyon, Jérôme Saddier also holds a bachelor's degree in history, a master's degree in political science and a master's degree in international relations. He was special adviser and chief of staff to the Minister for the Social and Solidarity Economy and Consumer Affairs from 2012 to 2014. He is Chairman of ESS France, Coop FR, Avise and Crédit Coopératif. 

Petro Darmoris, co-founder and Director at Social Economy Ukraine.

Petro Darmoris is the co-founder and Director at Social Economy Ukraine, a member of the board at Social Economy Europe.

For more than 9 years he has been helping social start-ups to launch their ventures and working with civil society organisations to design their business models and become financially sustainable. Now Petro is working on coordinating research projects, developing a social business network in Ukraine and implementing other initiatives for the development of the social economy ecosystem in his country.

He received his business education at the Kyiv Mohyla Business School and the Lviv Business School of the Ukrainian Catholic University. He is also a graduate of the Catholic University of Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) and the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine).

Ramón Armengol is President of COGECA. He is a livestock farmer. He has a pig farm that he manages with his son, a young farmer, which produces 2,500 tons and employs 8 people. Mr. Armengol is a member of the Cooperativa d'Ivars in Lleida, Spain and is also a member of its Board of Directors. This Cooperative has 3,615 livestock members producing and marketing livestock marketing livestock products, cereal and providing services to the members.

In addition, Ramón Armengol is a member of the Governing Council of Cooperativas de Cataluña and also a member of the Governing Council of Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de España. This organization, which represents the cooperatives of this sector in Spain, has almost 4,000 cooperatives associated throughout the country with a turnover of 26,000 million euros, has more than 1 million members throughout the country and represents 60% of the final agricultural production of this country. Ramón is a farmer whose farm depends on his cooperative, because thanks to it his activity, and with it that of the farmers in his area, is possible.

Sira Rego, (Valencia 1973), es portavoz federal de Izquierda Unida y eurodiputada, siendo además vicepresidenta del Grupo de la Izquierda en el Parlamento Europeo. Antes de liderar la delegación europea de IU, fue concejala y primera teniente de alcalde del madrileño municipio de Rivas, feudo histórico de la coalición de izquierdas.

Como eurodiputada, en los últimos años ha desarrollado un importante trabajo en temas como el medioambiente, la energía, los derechos humanos, las políticas migratorias y de asilo, la industria o la lucha contra la crisis climática desde Bruselas. A destacar son sus iniciativas frente a los "ecocidios" perpetrados contra el Mar Menor, Canal Roya (Pirineo aragonés) o Doñana, donde Sira se ha involucrado con su trabajo parlamentario, pero también apoyando la movilización y organización popular. Recientemente ha presentado una denuncia ante la Comisión Europea por la iniciativa del gobierno de Andalucía de legalizar los regadíos ilegales en Doñana, que ha logrado una amplia llamada de atención ante las autoridades comunitarias.

Asimismo, durante estos años ha recorrido los puntos más sensibles de la Frontera Sur europea (Lesbos, Lampedusa, Melilla, Ceuta, Canarias) para conocer de primera mano la situación de las personas migrantes y denunciando las políticas migratorias racistas de la UE, así como la militarización de las fronteras exteriores de la Unión. En este mismo sentido cabe destacar que en 2021 y gracias al trabajo del grupo parlamentario, Sira puso sus esfuerzos en la puesta en marcha de una comisión de investigación para clarificar la actividad de FRONTEX, especialmente tras el escándalo de las devoluciones ilegales de personas migrantes. Por otro lado, Sira ha tenido una gran implicación en la denuncia frente al modelo del oligopolio energético en Europa, planteando un modelo diferente de mercado energético y de fijación de precios, sobre todo ante la crisis energética y climática. En términos de modelo productivo e industrial, Sira llevó a cabo una agenda de visitas para conocer y apoyar a los trabajadores en importantes conflictos laborales como los de ALCOA, sector naval o Gamesa, incluyendo su defensa de un Estatuto europeo de apoyo a las empresas híper-electrointensivas, muy relevantes en Asturias.

Marie is Advocacy Officer at the European Microfinance Network (EMN), a member-based association representing microfinance institutions which promotes microfinance as a tool to fight social and financial exclusion in Europe through self-employment and the creation of microenterprises.

EMN focuses, among other topics, on the green and digital transition of the microfinance sector and the consumers they support (microentrepreneurs and vulnerable groups) and on access to finance for social entrepreneurs.

She studied French and European Law and graduated from the College of Europe.”

Camille Barbosa studied political science in France and in Peru. She then completed an International and European Cooperation research master’s degree in France, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Netherlands.

Believing that social action, solidarity and digital mediation can be complementary, she is now working at Reconnect (Groupe SOS Solidarité) as a project manager in Bordeaux, France since 2022. As a member of Reconnect, her work consists in facilitating the social inclusion of the public in precarious situations while simplifying social monitoring by professionals (social workers), through the development of digital solutions such as a digital safe for people in precarious situations to facilitate their social inclusion.

She also works to offer expertise by creating and animating digital workshops. The multi-partner dimension of the Reconnect project is the key to support the public with different cultures and backgrounds by adapting to their specific needs and in that way, ensure their autonomy through digital skills.

A lawyer specializing in local authorities, Antoine DUBOIS began his career in social and financial engineering, working in banking after a spell with the equivalent of France Active Alsace, a major player in the financing of the social economy.

After a spell as manager of private non-profit clinics, he is currently Head of Medical Affairs at Groupe Hospitalier Saint Vincent de Paul. He is married with 3 children. He represents the City and Eurometropolis on the Board of Directors of RTES, the national network of local authorities for a solidarity-based economy. 

A social-democrat from civil society, it's because the world can only be changed from within that he wants to get even more involved. It's because citizens are calling for a political ecology to deal with urgent climatic, social and democratic issues... that he wants to take on responsibilities and support socio-economic players.

In the Neudorf / Musau area, he would like to put his technical and managerial skills to good use by bringing the citizen / elected official / administration triptych to life.

In   the   Eurometropole   region,   he   will   promote   the   emergence   of   Social   and   Solidarity Economy   solutions,   supported   by   competent   and   mobilized   players   in   a   structuring ecosystem... Although it represents 10% of the economy, this entrepreneurial approach is the certainty of a better world for all living beings.

As Chairman of R-GDS, he won't forget his primary mission, which is to supply energy under optimum safety and financial conditions; he particularly wishes to accelerate the ecological transition of gas and energy savings. R-GDS, a public-private company controlled by the city of Strasbourg, operates the natural gas distribution network in Strasbourg and 122 other towns   in   the   Bas-Rhin   region,   and   heads   up   a   consortium   working   on   heat   networks, hydrogen and energy-efficient building renovation.

As   Vice-Chairman   of   Crédit  Municipal,  he   will   ensure   the   viability   of   this   historic establishment, which is accredited in the same way as banks, and will initiate reflection on its development in order to offer a response to our fellow citizens facing a temporary shortage of cash. Crédit Municipal is a municipal public institution of a banking nature, providing support to our fellow citizens facing temporary cash shortages (pawnbroking and referral to support structures).

Véronique Bertholle is originally from Dijon (France). She studied at the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies from 1997 to 2001.

From 2001 to 2002, she spent a year living and working in Berlin, as part of an exchange program between the French National Assembly and the Bundestag, as a parliamentary assistant to Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, who sat on the Human Rights and European Affairs Commissions.

From 2003 to the end of 2021, she worked for several European associations and NGOs (creation and management of European projects, network coordination, representation and relations with institutional and financial partners, etc.).

In December 2021, she was elected to the Strasbourg City Council. Within the municipal team, she is Deputy Mayor of Strasbourg in charge of cross-border, European and international relations and European institutions. Her political group is "Strasbourg écologiste et citoyenne", which is the majority group.

Véronique Bertholle is also a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and, since 2022, has been the Deputy Thematic Spokesperson for Youth, appointed by the Bureau of the Congress.