Presentation of Washingtonian of the Year
Luis Fernando Esteban
Washington Generals Banquet
Tacoma
Oct. 11, 2008

Luis Fernando moved to Seattle from Spain as Iberia Airlines’ Technical Vice President at the Boeing Company 29 years ago.   Luis Fernando has been working with his company Iberia for 40 years and is the most senior engineer in the company.

He became the Honorary Vice Consul of Spain in 1993 and was promoted to Honorary Consul of Spain in the year 2007.  In this capacity he has worked tirelessly on over 200 significant educational, cultural and commercial projects involving Spain and the state.

 He has directed many trade-related projects that range from commercial projects that have led to sales of Boeing aircraft to Iberia Airlines to the development of new programs for the University of Washington.  He has taken delivery of over 120 Boeing airplanes worth over 2.5 billion dollars. 

Other significant projects he has developed include the coordination of services between Renfe Talgo of Spain and Amtrak where the Talgo train was introduced in the Pacific Northwest corridor. The state of Washington and Amtrak bought 5 units of Talgo trains that were assembled in Washington State. Today the Talgos trains have transported over 8 million passengers between Vancouver B.C. and Eugene, Oregon.

With his help Microsoft opened the first research center of mobile phone technology in Valladolid, Spain.  Today that center has over 100 employees.

The Boeing Company opened a European research center in Madrid.  Today that center has 60 employees of various European nationalities.

Thanks to his support Spain is one of the top countries for bi-lateral trade with Washington State.  

As Honorary Consul, Don Luis Esteban has worked with the Spanish Government to bring world class Spanish art to Washington State with exhibition of paintings at the Tacoma Art Museum of  Miró, Picasso and Dali as well as the ceramic art of Picasso.

In the fall of 2004 he worked with the Spain’s Patrimonio Nacional to bring to the Seattle Art Museum an exceptional exhibit entitled “Spain and the Age of Exploration 1492-1792” which included some of Spain’s greatest paintings and artifacts.  He personally hosted the King and Queen of Spain who visited Seattle at the time of the exhibition.

In 1998 an agreement was signed between the Minister of Education of Spain and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the state of Washington with the idea to improve the Spanish language skills of the Spanish teachers in K12 education.   Under this program over 180 teachers of Washington state studied a summer at the University of Salamanca with the sponsorship of the Boeing Company and during this year over 80 teachers from Spain were assigned to teach in Washington State.

Thanks to that agreement today we have a Spanish Research Center at the University of Washington with over 4,000 books and DVDs in the library.

 In the year 2006 the Cervantes Institute opened a new Aula Cervantes Center at the University of Washington.  The goal of this center is to bring to the University of Washington the latest and best tools for language learning and the best Spanish and Latin American cultural events.

The University of Washington in the last 3 years signed different agreements of collaboration with the universities of Leon, Salamanca, Granada and Cadiz as well as the Government of Castilla- Leon and the Fundacion de la Lengua.

With all of these projects the University of Washington is on the way to becoming one of the primary leaders in the learning of Spanish in the United States.

In the 18^th century Spain claimed the sovereignty of the Pacific Northwest coast and moved its best explorers and scientists to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and established the first European settlement and trade post in the bay we call today Neah Bay which was called Fort Nunez Gaona.  

Understanding the importance that this settlement has been to the history of Washington state, the Washington State Legislature , the Government of Spain and the Makah Nation were tireless with the help of so many citizens of Washington state to make the park  we call Fort Nunez Gaona Diah Veterans Park a reality.

Don Luis Esteban has been honored six times by the Spanish Royal Family with the Spanish Royal Medal “Condecoración” for his many programs in behalf of Spain and the United States.

He has been honored by receiving the 1997 Margaret K. Williams Pierce County Arts Commission Award.

He has also been honored by the Washington State House of Representatives Resolution 98-4708 on March 9, 1998 as well as by the Washington State Senate Resolution on that same date.

In addition, he has received the following awards:   The City of Tacoma City of Destiny Award - May 9, 1998, the Metropolitan King County Council Recognition Award - September 17, 2001, the Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers Public Awareness Award  -October 8, 2004 and the First Annual Luis Fernando Esteban Public Service Award  - University of Washington – June 9, 2006.  In March 2003 he was named Co-chair of the Advisory Board at the University of Washington Spanish Department. Today, thanks in no small part to facilitation by Luis Esteban, Spain contributes over 500 million dollars to the Global Health Project of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (second largest contributor).

In 2006 he received tribute from Centro Cultural Hispano Americano “Premio Quimbaya”

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to present Don Luis Fernando Esteban to you as our Washingtonian of the Year.