Elsa Artadi

Artadi was born on 19 August 1976 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.^[1] Her mother Esther Artadi manages a small estate agent.^[2] Her parents separated when she was young and Elsa and her brother Patrick have chosen to use their mother's surname, Artadi, first rather than their father's surname, Vila.^[2]

Artadi studied at an independent school in Barcelona.^[3] After school Artadi joined the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in 1994, graduating in 1998 with a degree in economics.^[1][3][4] She received a Master's degree from UPF in 2000.^[1][3] She joined Harvard University in 2000 on a scholarship from Fundació "la Caixa", receiving a master's degree (2002) and a doctorate (2006) in economics from the university.^[1][5]

Artadi taught economics at the Bocconi University in Milan between 2006 and 2010.^[5][6] During this period she was also a visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai (2007), UPF (2009–10) and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (2009–11).^[5][7] She was also a member of the World Bank's scientific committee in Casablanca (2008), a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (2009) and a member of the European Economic Association's scientific committee (2009–10).^[3][5][6]

Artadi joined the Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia's regional government, in 2011 as an economic advisor to Andreu Mas-Colell, the Minister of Economy and Finance.^[5][8] In 2013 she became managing director of the generalitat's Entitat Autònoma de Jocs i Apostes, serving until 2015. She was also Director General of Tax and Game during this time. She was promoted to Finance Secretary in 2015 and in early 2016 she became Director-General of Inter-departmental Coordination.^[9][10][11]

Artadi became a member of the Catalan nationalist Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) in the summer of 2016.^[5][6] She became a member of the PDeCAT's executive, taking responsibility for studies and programs, but later left the party due to differences.^[6][12]

Artadi contested the 2017 regional election as an independent Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia.^[13][14] At the election Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan Parliament.^[15][16] Artadi was spokesperson for the JuntsxCat parliamentary group.^[17] On 19 May 2018 newly elected President Quim Torra nominated a new government in which Artadi was to be Minister of Enterprise and Knowledge and Government Spokesperson.^[18][19][20] However, the Spanish government condemned the inclusion of jailed/exiled politicians in the government as provocative and refused to approve Torra's appointments or to revoke direct rule.^[21][22][23] Faced with this opposition Torra announced a new government on 29 May 2018 without the jailed/exiled politicians.^[24][25] Artadi was to be Minister of the Presidency and Government Spokesperson in the new government.^[26][27][28] She was sworn in on 2 June 2018 at the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya.^[29][30][31] She resigned in March 2019 to contest the 2019 local elections as the JuntsxCat's number two candidate in Barcelona.^[32][33]

In July 2020 Artadi joined the newly formed Together for Catalonia political party.^[34]

Artadi was married to architect Alberto Arraut.^[2][5] She is a yoga enthusiast and enjoys running and water colour painting.^[8][35]