How to Be an Effective Project Sponsor

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is the global champion of project management and author of the "Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook" (HBR 2021) and HBR magazine's featured article "The Project Economy Has Arrived" (Nov 2021), which argues that Projects are the lingua franca of the business and personal worlds from the C-suite to managing your careers. Antonio’s research and global impact in modern management has been recognized by Thinkers50 with the prestigious award “Ideas into Practice” and is ranked #4 in the global gurus' Top 30 list. He is part of Marshall Goldsmith 100 coaches. He was the global Chairman of the Project Management Institute in 2016 and has been recognized as a Fellow of PMI for his contribution to the project management profession. He created the Brightline Initiative, founded Projects & Co, and co-founded the Strategy Implementation Institute. His work advises senior leaders on prioritizing and implementing strategic initiatives and leading transformational change. Antonio is also the author of “Lead Successful Projects” (Penguin, 2019), “The Project Revolution” (LID, 2019). and “The Focused Organization” (Taylor&Francis, 2014), and has contributed to seven other books. A pioneer and leading authority in teaching and coaching senior executives the art and science of strategy execution and project management. Currently visiting professor at Duke CE, Instituto de Empresa, Solvay, Vlerick, Ecole des Ponts, and Skolkovo. He is a much-in-demand speaker at events worldwide. Antonio has presented at more than 220 conferences worldwide, regularly evaluated as the best speaker. European Business Summit, Strategy Leaders Forum, Gartner Summit, TEDx, and EU Cohesion Policy Conference; are some of the events he has delivered inspirational keynotes. He is the Sustainability Transformation Program Director at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines. Previously he worked as Head of Project Portfolio Management at BNP Paribas Fortis. Before that, he was Head of Post-Merger Integration at Fortis Bank, leading the acquisition of ABN AMBRO, the largest in financial service history. He also worked for ten years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, becoming the global lead practitioner for project and change management. Born in Madrid, Spain, and educated in Germany, Mexico, Italy, and the United States, Antonio is fluent in five languages. He is an Economist, has an MBA from London Business School, and Insead's IDP.