María Peña is Chief Executive Officer of ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, a State-Owned Enterprise whose mission is to promote the internationalization of Spanish companies and to foster foreign direct investment into Spain.

María Peña holds a degree in Economics from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and is a Spanish State chartered economist and foreign trade expert.

She has developed her professional career in several positions in the Spanish public Administration, mainly in the economic and commercial spheres. Abroad, she has served as Head Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Spanish embassies in Senegal, Morocco, Uruguay and Ivory Coast. She also held the Alternate Executive Director for Spain position in the African Development Bank.