Custodia Cabanas

An expert in leadership and change management, Custodia Cabanas has authored numerous research works on organisational behaviour, being a regular collaborator with professors from Insead and Wharton in this field. She co-authored, in collaboration with Professor Mauro Guillén, the Fontaneda case, which has attracted the attention of leading international business schools. Over the last three years, Professor Cabanas has extended her field of research toward strategic communication and has set up, and currently runs, the first observatory in the field in a Spanish business school.

Professor Cabanas has taught at IE since 1989, and has been a research associate at Insead. She regularly collaborates with leading media agents in Spain, and publishes each year studies on innovation and strategic communication in organizations. Furthermore, she is Director for contents of the leadership development workshops for IE Business School and IE University.

She holds a PhD and a MBA from IE University, and a Law Degree from Universidad Complutense, Madrid. Professor Cabanas teaches in masters programs such as IMBA and Executive MBA, as well as in-company and Executive Programs at IE.

Academic Background

• PhD, IE University
• MBA, IE University
• Fellow of the Global Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning, Harvard Business School
• Law Degree, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Professional Background

• Chair, Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources Department, IE Business School, 2014 – present
• Director of the Observatory for Internal Communications, IE, 2004 – present
• Executive Director of the IE Human Resource Management Centre, 2004 – 2010
• Director of the IBM-Airtel Human Resource Center, IE, 1991 – 1993
• Assistant Director of MBA and International MBA programmes, IE, 1988 – 1991
• Director of the IE Alumni Association, IE, 1986 – 1988

She currently Chairs the Organisational Behaviour, Human Resources and Leadership Area at IE Business School, is the Academic Director of the Transformation with Purpose program and is member of the Board of Directors of one of the largest consultant companies on Strategic Communication in Spain.

Teaching and Research Experience

• Professor of Organisational Behaviour, IE Business School, 1989 – present
• Research Associate, Department of Human Resources, Insead, Fontainebleau, France, 1989 – 1990

Author of numerous cases and research articles on change management and vision creation, strategic communication, and the role of feedback. She has participated in several projects in conjunction with Insead and Wharton cultural diversity, career change and leadership, including the Fontaneda case and the Castillo de Canena case, which received the case writing award in the EFMD case competition in 2016.

Her multimedia documents are the most frequently used by students and professors in the Business School.

She has recently published the book “Comunicar para Transformar ” (2015) and has participated writing a chapter in the book “Communication and Strategy”(2017).