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She was born in the Catalan town of Olot as Anna Navarro i Descals and in the 1990s went to Silicon Valley. There, under her married name Anna Navarro Schlegel, she became one of the most influential woman in the tech industry, and now she returns to Catalonia to be number two on Carles Puigdemont's candidacy for the election to the Catalan Parliament on May 12th. That has been announced this Tuesday in relation to the Junts+ Puigdemont electoral list which promised to go "beyond the boundaries" of the Together for Catalonia (Junts) party. Thus, Navarro Schlegel, the number two on the list is considered one of the brightest profiles in Silicon Valley, heading the survey of most impactful women in the global technology industry, compiled in 2020 by the reference publication Analytics Insight. In December 2021, she was awarded the Catalan government's highest recognition, the Sant Jordi Cross, for her outstanding work in technology and business. Now, she has decided to put her experience "at the service of the country" in the candidacy headed by Catalan president-in-exile Puigdemont.

The new member of the Puigdemont candidacy is, as she explains on her website, currently vice president of Global at ProCore Technologies. For the past 30 years, Anna Navarro Schlegel has led tech teams in areas from engineering to marketing at major Silicon Valley companies, including Cisco Systems, Google, VeriSign, VMware, Xerox and NetApp, with her work having been widely published in industry forums. She also advises Google's international product team and is a requested speaker at leading US educational centres such as Berkeley Haas Institute and Stanford University, as well as at Barcelona's UB and UAB.

In 2017 she published the book Truly Global on how large companies can succeed in a competitive global economy. The book argues for the globalization of markets and formed frontal opposition to then-president Donald Trump and his closing of borders.

The experience of Anna Navarro, "at the service of the country"

In video images shared by Junts, Anna herself states that she knows "what it is to fight at the highest level, I have always done so with great Catalanism and commitment to Catalonia". Now, says Navarro, she is ready to put this experience to the service of the country, that is Catalonia. She stresses that she is not coming "to warm seats" and that she is doing it to "work for what we Catalans deserve". For his part, the president-in-exile also showed, in a video, his satisfaction with the signing of the leading businessperson for the election ticket and thanked her for "putting her exceptional career at the service of Catalonia". "If we want to create the conditions so that talent does not leave and those that have left return, we must encourage the right opportunities", he said.

The Junts+ Puigdemont ticket 

The candidacy headed by Carles Puigdemont, a current MEP and the Catalan president who led the country to the independence referendum of October 1st, 2017, is to be called Junts+ Puigdemont for Catalonia. The intention is to present voters at the early Catalan election called for May 12th with "a candidacy that allows us to face this new stage by incorporating profiles and support from different sectors, with the aim of recovering the strength of unity and returning citizens' trust in Catalan institutions", as the party explained. Although Puigdemont has headed previous Catalan electoral lists for Junts from his Belgium exile, the amnesty law currently passing through the Spanish Senate should allow him to return to Catalonia and take office if elected. He will present the list of his candidacy next Saturday, April 6th from Elna, in Northern Catalonia (France), the same town where he announced his decision to stand on March 21st.