Inmaculada Buendía Martínez holds a PhD in Business Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). She is also a specialist in cooperative management and an associate professor at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. Author of numerous scientific articles, books, and other publications, she is a member of various networks and international research projects. Her international expertise both in America and in Europe allowed her to directly collaborate with several research centres specialized in cooperativism in Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Ireland. Her current interests focus on the contribution of cooperatives to local development, the policies for financial inclusion, the role of financial cooperatives in the international arena and the corporate social responsibility in the banking industry. Inmaculada Buendía Martínez speaks Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.