Arkaitz Etxezarreta, new CEO of ERREKA

The Erreka cooperative has entered a new phase with the appointment of Arkaitz Etxezarreta (Oñati, 1980) as the cooperative’s Managing Director. Etxezarreta has until now been Director of the Smart Fastening business unit and has more than 15 years’ experience at the Antzuola cooperative.

Arkaitz Etxezarreta has been the new general manager since 1st of march, taking over from Antton Tomasena. Etxezarreta studied engineering at Mondragon Unibertsitatea and holds a Master’s degree in Project Management and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). He joined Erreka as an engineer in 2006 and has worked for 14 years in the Smart Fastening business, where he was first head of technology and then managing director of business.

As he told, “I am very excited, I know it is a very nice challenge and I feel the responsibility, both socially and business-wise. I am willing to work flat out so that we all feel part of this project. I will try to continue with the good evolution of the cooperative in recent years, consolidating its roots and trying to create the most attractive project possible, facing up to the challenges of today’s world”.

As Etxezarreta explained, he sees “a promising future” for Erreka: “The different businesses are in good condition to move forward with the challenges of the future. In the meantime, we will try to create some new business with the intention of leaving a better project than the one we have been left with”.

About ERREKA

ERREKA is today an asset of our territory, an open, agile, multi-localized innovation platform that promotes the creation of new businesses and the transformation of existing ones, faithful to cooperative principles.

Integrated within the MONDRAGON Corporation, Erreka currently employs over 500 people and generated a revenue of over 75 million euros in the last fiscal year. Erreka has 6 production facilities across 3 continents and currently 71.4% of its total sales are international.

With its four business lines, ERREKA Plastics, Smart Fastening, Health (Medical + Care) and Connected Access, Erreka has diversified its range of services and products, basing its diversification strategy on open innovation. It is currently immersed in inorganic growth projects, with the aim of investing in companies, initiatives and startups for the future.