Elena Sanjuan Lopez
I work as a Management Consultant in the Capability Network - Talent & Organization team at Accenture. I chose IE University out of a desire to break away from a standard architectural role, and I was certainly encouraged and empowered to do exactly that. I believe that the professional world is now largely built on skills rather than titles, and this enables us to adapt our professional profile to our own strengths and interests and evolve it over time.
"I didn’t have a clear calling when leaving high school, so I am a firm believer in exploring new fields, following your interests and forging your own path, which IE University encourages."
Reinventing the future of architecture
Considering herself an “unconventional profile,” Elena Sanjuan Lopez is a strong believer in forging your own path and following your interests. She began her academic journey studying civil engineering for three years at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, before making the switch to architecture. She has also studied for a strategic innovation management diploma, a UX/UI diploma and completed a Prosci change management certification.
After a professional stint as an Interior and Furniture designer for high-end residential and hospitality projects in Santiago, Chile, she discovered the Master in Design for Work, Retail and Learning Environments, now Master in Strategic Interior Design, at IE University. She was ultimately drawn in by the innovation of her program’s teaching and the diversity of her peers, who came from multiple professional backgrounds.
Having realized that the traditional architecture role was not for her, Elena is grateful to IE University for opening her eyes to a wider dimension of architecture that focuses on the human experience. She credits her program for transforming her vision and career aspirations.
Her time with us certainly helped Elena move across into what she is currently doing for Accenture as a Management Consultant. With the human-centric vision that IE University helped foster, she is able to lead transformation projects, helping her clients to drive change by focusing on people. She believes she’s a part of the constant reimagining of the future of work to improve the employee experience, a win-win for companies and employees alike.
“The program in one word: innovation. It gave me the tools to shape my career in a different way and to anticipate change by being flexible and curious.”
The strong tech element that characterizes IE University’s programs has certainly helped her too, and Elena finds that this plays out daily in her current role. She notes that technology is at the core of what she does, as she leverages tech to help unleash people’s potential. A common thread in her work is using its power to reshape work and people’s lives, and this is something she says will only accelerate.
Looking to the future, Elena notes that architecture is not only about physical space any more. What she learned through her program helped her broaden her mindset and be open to new ideas of the future, such as the impact the metaverse will have on relationships between employees and employers.
This, she says, will create new opportunities for designers to impact and transform employee experience, thus shaping a new workplace environment in a future that’s not so distant at all.
