José Luis López de Silanes is Chairman of Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos CLH, S.A[1] and Chairman of the Social Board of the University of La Rioja.
Born in Haro (La Rioja) in 1946, he became an industrial engineer and then followed the Management Development Programme at the IESE Business School
José Luis López de Silanes has been the chairman of Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos CLH, S.A., since 26 April 2005. He has also been chairman of the Social Board of the University of La Rioja since July 2000. Besides this, he is a member of both the Advisory Council of the UNESCO in University Management and Policy at the UPM (Polytechnic University of Madrid) and the Advisory Board of the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Mr López de Silanes began his professional activity as a teacher at the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering (UPM) in Madrid, and in 1971 he joined Compañía Arrendataria del Monopolio de Petróleos (CAMPSA), where he held various posts as Chief Project Engineer and Technical Area Manager.
During that period, he was one of the promoters in the creation of what is now CLH and directed the company’s Strategic Plan that aimed at modernizing and transforming it into today’s logistics company.
After the time spent in CLH in 1993 he was appointed to create and direct the Head Office for Engineering in the Repsol Group, and from there went on, in September 1996, to become a member of the Management Committee of the Gas Natural Group, as General Manager of Supplies and Transport, and General Manager of Enagás, carrying out these tasks until July 1999, when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Gas Natural Group.
As Chief Executive Officer of Gas Natural, he made a decisive contribution to the transformation of this company into a large energy and services group operating at multinational level.