Aspen España Seminar “Leadership & Values”
Aspen Institute España will hold a new edition of the Aspen España Seminar on “Leadership and Values” from October 30 through November 2, 2025. The Seminar will be moderated by expert moderators trained in the Aspen method of debate and will bring together a group of 20 – 25 participants from different sectors of civil society. The Seminar will be moderated by Ruth Girardet, a non-executive director of the University of Edinburgh, an Executive Coach, and an Aspen UK moderator, and by Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, professor of Philology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Aspen España Fellow.
The seminar “Leadership and Values” brings the spirit and method of the Aspen Seminar to Spanish-speaking audiences with moderators trained in the classic Aspen Institute (USA) debate model. The Seminar is based on the reading of classic texts from Western philosophy, politics and literature to debate the fundamental values of an open society and the tensions inherent in defining what constitutes such a society.
This seminar brings together a group of participants from different sectors of civil society and government, providing a balanced and plural forum for reflection and debate on the current state and future of our societies, analyzed in terms of timeless human values. The format of the program takes place over three working days, with a careful selection of readings distributed among the participants to prepare the debates. These are guided by two Aspen moderators, who ask questions about the readings and generate a Socratic dialogue to address the main issues raised by the seminar. The Seminar will be held under the Chatman House Rule and the principles of dialogue that govern the activities of the Aspen Institute worldwide.
Ruth Girardet
Ruth is a non-executive director of the University of Edinburgh, and an Executive Coach with over twenty years of professional experience in corporate responsibility and corporate ethics, and extensive knowledge of how the corporate and charity sectors can work together to address issues of social justice. Ruth most recent executive roles were as Group Corporate Responsibility Director for Tesco Plc (until 2013), and as CEO of the criminal justice charity Just for Kids Law (until 2018).
Ruth holds degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford, in Social Sciences from Humboldt University in Berlin, and in Applied Ethics from the University of Leeds.
Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui
He is professor of Greek Philology at the Complutense University of Madrid and Aspen España Fellow. He holds a degree in Law and Classics, a Ph.D. in Classical Philology and History of Religions, and trained as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute, Harvard, Oxford (Christ Church), Zurich and Bologna (Royal College of Spain). He is the author of several studies on the philosophy, literature, politics, and religion of ancient Greece, and on the reception of classical culture in early Christianity and modernity. His latest books are El pensamiento narrativo (Sílex, 2023, with Fernando Ariza) and Catábasis: el viaje infernal en la Antigüedad (Alianza, 2023). He has been a technical advisor at the Consejería de Educación de la Comunidad de Madrid (2012-2014). He is an Aspen España Fellow, in whose seminars he collaborates as a participant and moderator.
Aspen Institute España
The Aspen Institute España Foundation was established in 2010 to promote leadership inspired by civic values and to address critical issues for the future of society. Every year it organizes more than seventy debates, seminars and conferences on leadership and values, the digital future, sustainability, democracy, geopolitics and the economy.
The President of Aspen España is Javier Solana and its Secretary General is José M. de Areilza. The project is supported by fifteen Spanish companies and a large network of alumni. It is part of the international network of Aspen Institutes, present in more than twelve countries, and collaborates in a special way with The Aspen Institute in the United States. This philanthropic institution was founded in 1950, among others by José Ortega y Gasset, to train leaders in all sectors of society with a humanistic vision and a connection to civic and democratic values. Today it is recognised as one of the most influential think tanks in the world, with more than fifty ongoing programmes in the fields of public policy and leadership.
