Carlos BOTANA LAGARÓN

President of the Port Authority of Vigo. Vigo, Spain.

Carlos Botana Lagarón was born in Vigo in 1972. He holds a degree in Marine Sciences from the University of Vigo and is a doctoral candidate in Ports and Climate Change. He has a Master's in Environmental Management from the University of Vigo and a Master's in Business Administration and Management from the National Distance Education University (UNED). He has over 20 years of experience in managing Vigo’s commercial, fishing, and port environment. He began his career in the Quality and Production department of a fishing company and later was responsible for projects related to Public Administration and Ports at a management consulting engineering firm. Since 2002, he has held various positions at the Port Authority of Vigo, where he was head of the Fishing Operations and Environment Divisions. From 2015 to 2023, he was in charge of the Sustainability Department of the Port of Vigo. He has worked on more than twenty European projects on environmental and development issues under various programs (Life+, H2020, Interreg Atlantic Area, Horizon, POPTEC, among others). He is the Coordinator of the Ports Pillar of the Atlantic Area within the European Commission. He is a member of the Sustainability and Development Committee and the Energy Committee of ESPO (European Sea Ports Organisation), the Climate and Energy Committee of IAPH (International Association of Ports and Harbours), and was President of the Blue Ports Network from 2019 to 2022 at ESPO. He is an expert in the Blue Economy and has coordinated the Blue Growth strategy of the Port of Vigo since 2016.