Born in Madrid, with a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid. He started his career at Siemens in 1975 where he worked as a design and process engineer until 1981. During this time, he helped develop different electronic circuits and automated systems, with one example being for the Trillo nuclear power plant. From 1981–1985 he worked at PA Technology in Cambridge (UK), an electronic systems and equipment design firm serving third parties. In addition to other projects, during this time he worked on amorphous silicon applications for producing solar PV cells, which were in their infancy at that time. When he returned to Spain, he helped create PA Technology Spain, becoming the firm’s chairman and CEO.
In 1986 he began at Alcatel as the Head of Marketing for new products. In 1986 with the Eureka program, Spain took over the chairmanship of a European program for the first time and he was asked to be the chairman, while on leave from Alcatel, and went on to stay another year as the CEO at the CDTI (Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology). In 1988 he went back to Alcatel as the CEO of Industrial Electronics and as a member of the board of directors. Particularly worthy of note from this period is his role in setting up ISOFOTON, the first Spanish firm to design and produce solar PV cells (such as bifacial solar cells). He stayed on ISOFOTON’s board until Alcatel sold it.
In 1993 he assumed the role of chairman at Alstom Spain, which at the time was a leading company in the Spanish high-speed train market, resulting in Spain’s largest train factory. In 1995 he returned to Siemens S.A., where he occupied the following roles: Vice-President and CEO, Executive Chairman of the Siemens Group in Spain, and Chairman of Southwestern Europe. The Siemens Group had 7,000 employees in Spain and operated in all the same areas as the parent company, and had 5 factories. During this time period Siemens S.A., the group’s main company, went from 700 million euros in turnover to 3 billion euros in 2006. It was also named Siemens AG’s best subsidiary worldwide twice. Particularly worthy of note from that period is the sale and completion of the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line.
In 2006 he was named Vice-President and member of the board of Siemens AG, and Chairman of the Telecommunications Division based in Munich, Siemens AG’s headquarters. Siemens AG had over 500,000 employees across 193 countries and the Telecommunications Division employed over 75,000 people across over 80 countries. In 2009 he was named Senior Advisor to the CEO of Siemens AG until 2012. When he returned to Spain, he was named chairman of Villar Group’s FerroAtlántica, a leading ferro-alloy and silicon metal manufacturer. This company focused its innovative work on developing silicon metal-based solar cells, which is a much more cost-efficient process compared to the traditional chemical production process for solar wafers and cells. From December 2010 to December 2017, he was Chairman of UNESA, an umbrella association for Spain’s 5 major electric companies. He was also named a director at Eurelectric, the European association of major electric companies. One of the key tasks during that period was the electric industry association’s contribution towards rationalizing the renewable energy sector and integrating it into the electricity market.
The disorganization present in the sector since 2007, stemming from an inconsistent payment system, lead to a deficit (the so-called tariff deficit) of around 30 billion euros, which was overcome during his chairmanship. He has served and serves on a variety of boards of directors. From 2010 to its divestiture, he served on Tecnocom’s Board of Directors and was Chairman of its Audit Committee.