Dr. Emilio José Baños Ardavín was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

In 1995, he joined Procter & Gamble, where he built a successful ten-year career in areas of marketing and product development. During this period, he also earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

In 2004, he and his family relocated to the state of Puebla, where he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at Novoceramic, a position he held until 2011.

In early 2012, he was invited to join the Governing Board of UPAEP. In November of that same year, he resigned from the Board to take on the position of Chief Executive Officer for Human Development and Administration. Subsequently, in April 2013, the Governing Board elected him President of UPAEP for the term spanning August 2013 to July 2016.

He has been confirmed in the same role on four subsequent occasions.

In 2017, he obtained a Doctorate in the History of Thought from the Universidad Panamericana (UP).

He has represented UPAEP as Second Vice President for the Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean region of the Organization of Catholic Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (ODUCAL) from 2022 to June 2025; as President of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Private Mexican Institutions of Higher Education (FIMPES) from 2018 to 2020; and on the National Council of the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES), representing private institutions, from 2017 to 2021.

He is currently a member of the Universia México Council.