04/07/2018

The President of CLH Group and of the Social Council of the University of La Rioja, José Luis López de Silanes, is awarded the Order of Civil Merit

The President of CLH Group and of the Social Council of the University of La Rioja, José Luis López de Silanes, has been granted the Order of Civil Merit, a distinction awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on the recommendation of the Government Delegation of La Rioja.

The award ceremony was held today at the University of La Rioja in an event presided over by José Ignacio Ceniceros, President of the Community of La Rioja, José Ignacio Pérez, Government Delegate in La Rioja, and Julio Rubio, Rector of the University of La Rioja.

The Order of Civil Merit is a distinction which was established in 1926 and is granted by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the name of His Majesty the King. The Order aims to recognise Spanish and foreign individuals that have made an exemplary contribution to Spain.

José Luis López de Silanes has been President of the CLH Group since April 2005. In addition to this he has been the President of the Social Council of the University of La Rioja since July 2000 and he has been the Honorary President of Campus Iberus, the Campus of International Excellence of the Ebro Valley, since 2016.

He is also a member of the Advisory Council of the UNESCO Chair of Management and University Policy at UPM (Madrid Polytechnic University), as well as the Advisory Council of the Higher Technical College of Industrial Engineers and the Higher Technical College of Mining and Energy Engineers at Madrid Polytechnic University.

In 2014 he received an Honourable Mention from the Official College of Industrial Engineers in Madrid (COIIM) for the “Industrial Engineer of the Year” in recognition of his “commendable and successful” professional duties and the contribution that he has made to the Industrial Engineering sector. In addition to this, he received the “Gold Medal” from the La Rioja Chamber of Commerce in 2016.

Born in 1946 in Haro (La Rioja), he is a qualified Industrial Engineer and has completed the IESE Business School Management Development Programme. López de Silanes began his professional trajectory as a lecturer at the Higher College of Industrial Engineers in Madrid. In 1971 he then joined the Compañía Arrendataria del Monopolio de Petróleos (CAMPSA) where he performed different roles including Chief Project Engineer and Technical Director, moving on to create and lead the Repsol Group Engineering Command. He was also the Managing Director for the Gas Natural Group and Enagás.