Born in Valencia (Spain), Prof. Beneyto is an academic, lawyer and business consultant, as well as a prolific writer; during a period in his life he has been a politician who held office in Spain and in the European Union.
He studied Law, Philosophy and Economics in Spain (University of Navarre), Germany (University of Münster) and the US (Harvard University). He graduated summa cum laude and took and Ll. M. from Harvard Law School and two Ph. Ds. from the University of Münster in Law and in Philosophy and History.
He was a civil servant with the European institutions from 1986 to 1990, where he advised the European Parliament and the European Commission on EU Law and international trade.
From 1990 to 2011 he was an academic in different US (University of Maryland, New York University, Harvard University) and Spanish Universities, as well an international lawyer. As a Professor of European Law, International Business Law and International Relations, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses and has published or co- authored 50 books and ca. 100 articles. As an attorney, he practiced Corporate Law, International Business Law and International Arbitration with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York and Brussels, and with Gómez-Acebo & Pombo in Brussels and Madrid.
From 2011 to 2016 he was a Member of the Spanish Parliament and Spokesman for Foreign Affairs, and a member of the Economics and Competitiveness Parliamentary Committee and of the EU Committee. He was appointed President of the Spanish Delegation to the Council of Europe, Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and he was a member of its Committee on External Relations, Legal Affairs and the Committee on Selection of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
In 2017 he was appointed Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where he taught courses on European policies and Corporate Governance.
His current activities are focused on Corporate Governance, leadership in business and society, public policies, and international politics. He is a member of the Board of different private companies, Foundations and institutions in Spain and internationally. His last publication analyzes the Chinese project of the New Silk Road (One Belt, one Road).In recent years he has written on the future of the EU, Competition and anti-trust law, M & A and Corporate Governance, the foreign and defense policies of the EU, and international politics.
Prof. Beneyto has written two novels (“The elements of the world”, Madrid 2009; “The spy who deceived Hitler”, Madrid 2016). He is fluent in Spanish, English, German and French and has a basic knowledge of Russian and Chinese.