Vice-President, Board of Directors, Grupo Vips; Chairman of the Board, Ashoka
Madrid, Spain
After experiencing Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio for her first year following college, Maite Arango began her career in the retail sector, first working for Macy’s USA before joining the family business, Grupo Vips, a leading Spanish multi-brand and multi-format company in the food service and retail sector.
At Grupo Vips, Maite first ran the retail division, Vips Stores, a pioneering business model which quickly became a reference for importing and introducing new trends and selected goods into the Spanish market. Maite contributed to build the strong reputation of the Group, always working closely with the HR teams and focusing especially in two main areas: incentive programs and corporate responsibility.
In 2003 she launched and ran the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, implementing an innovative and ambitious vision focused on sustainability and social impact. The company’s CSR activity has been recognized as a cutting-edge model and reference for Spanish corporations. At the same time, Maite actively engaged with key CSR corporate and non- profit stakeholders to foster the CSR footprint and its relevancy, both at business and society levels.
Maite is currently actively involved with national and global social innovation initiatives projects and foundations such as Ashoka, where she chaired the Spanish Board (2016-2022. She is passionate about systems change. Since 2019, she has co-led Next Now (powered by Ashoka). Maite is a member of the Governing Body, and Trustee of the Princess of Asturias Foundation and a member of Accioin’s Board of Directors.
Maite holds a Bachelor of Arts from Scripps College (Claremont, California).