Luis Zunzunegui

With a business, marketing, and entrepreneurial background, Luis’ path to IDEO London has been a highly eclectic one that’s included management consulting firms, banking, and telecommunications. He launched and managed a technology startup for 3 years, during which he was seized by a romantic idea: that helping companies become more human-centered can make them more successful and empathetic—and, by extension, make society better.

With that newfound direction, Luis led a design studio’s European operations for five years prior to joining IDEO, building its Madrid office from the ground up. There he helped industry-leading companies innovate, among them one of the world’s largest spirits brands. It was simply looking to leverage data to launch a new revenue stream, but the empathy work Luis and his team undertook with the client spurred it to make larger strategic decisions, including the launch of a new business unit.

He believes new ventures gain traction by having deep empathy not only for the consumer but the client: understanding what the company values, its challenges, and its “why” and then delivering that.

Luis has a Master's Degree in Business Strategy and Marketing from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas-Madrid (ICADE) and is passionate about public speaking and knowledge sharing, both at conferences and as a professor at institutions like the IE (Instituto Empresa) and IED (Istituto Europeo di Design).

Companies

• Executive Director at IDEO // EU Product Delivery and Experiment Lead IDEO (2021)
• Professor MCXI (Master in Customer Experience and Innovation) IE Business School (2017)
• Executive Director IDEO (2019 — 2021)
• Managing Director & Partner Propelland (2014 — 2019)
• Founder and CEO GiftyBit (2011 — 2015)
• Product Manager (Strategy Department) ING DIRECT España (2010 — 2011)
• Brand Manager & New Business KPN (2008 — 2010)
• Senior Consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers Consultancy (2006 — 2008)
• Assistant Product Manager T-Online España (Yacom) (2005 — 2006)

Education

• Master's degree Universidad Pontificia Comillas
• Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo
• Escola Americana Rio de Janeiro