Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez

About

Described by Harvard Business Review's Adi Ignatius as "the father of modern project management," Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is widely regarded as the most influential thinker of the 21st century in modernizing project management and bringing it to the executive level. With 35 contributions in HBR — more than any other author on the topic — and two appearances on the Thinkers50 ranking of the world's most influential management thinkers, he has done more than anyone to move projects from an operational afterthought to the core of how organizations lead change and create value. In his latest book, Powered by Projects (HBR Press, 2026), and his HBR article "The Project-Driven Organization" (2026), he sets out a bold framework for reinventing how organizations deliver change in a world of continuous transformation. He is also the author of The HBR Project Management Handbook (2021), the widely read article "The Project Economy Has Arrived" (2021), and five other books on strategy execution and modern project management. A Fellow and former Chairman of the Project Management Institute (PMI), Antonio serves as Vice President of the Association for Project Management (APM). As founder of Projects & Co and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute, he has created globally recognized certifications in AI for project leaders and in strategy implementation. His impact is measured in the leaders and organizations he has transformed: more than 80 companies advised and over 10,000 leaders trained worldwide. Antonio works with senior teams at organizations including GSK, BNP Paribas, L'Oréal, Repsol, Galp, KLM, Saudia, AB InBev, ING, Euronext, and Moody's, and with public-sector initiatives such as Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 — helping them build transformation capabilities, shift culture, and execute complex change. He has delivered over 600 keynotes at events including TEDx, Gartner Summits, and the European Business Summit, and teaches at leading business schools including Hult, Duke CE, IE Business School, Solvay, and Vlerick. Antonio is a LinkedIn Learning instructor with over ten courses and author of the newsletter "Lead Projects Successfully." Originally from Madrid, he has lived and studied in Germany, Mexico, Italy, and the United States, speaks five languages, holds an MBA from London Business School, and completed the INSEAD International Directors Program. He is a proud member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches.