Meet the ESEI teaching team – Part 1

We’re extremely proud of our international teaching team. Our professors come from all over the world, bringing their experience in business and entrepreneurship to the classroom.
The practical career advice and mentorship they offer our students is invaluable, especially when it comes to stepping out of education and into the world of work.

We interviewed part of our team, found out about their career paths, their stories, expertise and more. So read on to find out who’s who at ESEI!

Luca Dell’oro, Master in Marketing and Communication tutor and professor, Strategic digital marketing professor for BA

Luca specialises in business, marketing and communication. He was the Marketing and Commercial Director of Nestle S.A. in seven different European countries and has been the founder and CEO of three different consulting companies.
Not only is Luca a highly motivated tutor, but he also has a highly motivating style. He advises students to “always be proactive and always be yourself!”
He adds, “I love teaching. And even more, I love seeing our students’ progress and results.”

You can read more from Luca in his article about professional personal branding on the ESEI blog.

Deborah Gray, Consumer behavior professor for BA, PR for Masters

Deborah is a British expat who has been living in Spain since 2001. She specialises in Public Relations, Social Media, and Consumer Behaviour. In the UK she worked for Hill and Knowlton and British Telecom (BT).

She is also the Founder and Director of Canela PR, which she began in Barcelona in 2006 with the vision of providing an independent, quality alternative to the international PR agencies in Spain. She expanded Canela’s operations to Madrid in 2008 and to Lisbon in 2010 and currently leads a team over 25 communications professionals who manage communication campaigns for world leading brands such as Cooltra, Lenovo, Motorola & Sony.

When it comes to teaching, she likes to encourage discussion in class. “It’s important to me that everyone shares their experiences as a consumer because we have all been targeted by brands. I am interested in getting people to think critically about what they are receptive to and why, She says. “Discussion of Coca Cola and Apple is banned because it’s too obvious. Oh, and they tell me I’m strict!”

And a crazy fact about Deborah: She is also a real-life desert island survivor!
“I was once on a flight from New Zealand to Hawaii when the plane was struck by lightning, the engine caught fire and we had to land on a small pacific island until they sent a replacement plane.”

Willem van Rossem, Master in Hospitality Management tutor and professor

Willem is originally from Holland and his speciality lies in hospitality and tourism. He truly is an international traveller, having lived in the USA, France, Spain, Japan and the Netherlands, concentrating his career in areas of hotel operations, quality assurance and training and development.
Over the years he has worked directly and indirectly in the hospitality industry in companies such as Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, leading hotels around the world and Port Aventura, among others.

In terms of teaching style, he says, “I try to engage students in an active way by combining theory, practical case studies and group discussions.”
You probably didn’t know that Willem speaks six languages and enjoys cooking for his spouse and daughter.

Soraiya Naimanan, Quantitative research for BA

Soraiya has been a teacher for 20 years. She graduated with Joint Honours in Mathematics and Computer Science at Kingston University, London.
After working in the City in London as a computer programmer and database designer, she went for a year out in Japan as an English teacher.

“I fell in love with teaching and decided that my one year abroad as a teacher would become my career and I have lived in several cities in several continents teaching, mainly English.”

Soraiya has tutored mathematics to people of all ages throughout her career and while living in Santiago de Chile, she taught professionals studying for the GMAT mathematics exam. She now runs a small business English school that offers In-Company classes, as well as teaching English and mathematics.

Chloé Mayer, Mathematics in Business for BA

Chloé has been living in Barcelona for seven years, after spending most of her life in Paris. She currently teach maths to bachelor’s students at ESEI and also teaches Economics and Statistics at other locations.
After her studies, which focused on maths, economics and finance, she began her career at the Ministry of Finance in France, dealing with the French Government Debt.
Chloé then joined the AXA insurance company, where she initially worked for the investment department, dealing with insurance portfolios. Her specific expertise was in the area of hedge fund investments.
After several years, she moved to Spain where she was in charge of an international accounting project for AXA. She was responsible for a transition in countries including Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece.
She made the move into teaching because she liked the idea of transmitting knowledge and “tricks”.

“I like the challenge of adapting myself to suit my students in order to find THE way that they will understand. Nothing is more rewarding that a student that says “I finally got it”!”, she says.

Chloé is an outdoorsy person. She tells us “I love any sea sports, but especially kitesurfing. every time you can feel a little breeze, my mind escapes and think of the waves and the ocean.”

Fernando Ozores, Master in digital entrepreneurship tutor and professor (technologies and innovation in business)

Fernando is a consultant and lecturer, who specialises in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. His professional experience is linked to new business development through new products, services and business models. He is also the founder and manager of Buenaidea, and the proud father of his daughter.

“I started my career working in multinationals for six years. First in L’Oréal (Italy), to launch a new brand in the hair care category. Then I changed to IT consulting, working in R&D EU projects for Atos Origin,” he says.

“This last experience lead me to co-found an innovation consulting firm: Buenaidea. It has been running for 13 years. During this time I have been also been teaching and tutoring projects for entrepreneurs in Barcelona Activa and La Salle.”

Fernando is also a skilled facilitator of creativity workshops with broad experience in innovation processes – from opportunity recognition to going to market:

● Design and facilitation of innovation processes to produce new products, services and business models.
● User research and trend analysis to identify new insights and consumer patterns.
● Explore old and new technologies to understand business transformations.

He is also a follower of Design Thinking methods. This is a user-centric approach that involves multidisciplinary teams, and quick & dirty prototypes that lead to desired-viable-profitable solutions.
When it comes to teaching, Fernando says, “I organize the classes thinking of what I wanted when I was student. I try to align the course content with student expectations. Whenever possible, I use new methodologies: project-based courses, flipped classroom, active learning; and I like to combine individual with group assignments.”

Fernando also has a few tricks up his sleeve. “I like theatre and magic shows. I’ve been performing for several years in theaters and amusement parks. Cool, right?”