Board members

Mr. Cole has a deep and extensive background at both the executive and non-executive level of public and private companies with experience in environmental and sustainable growth strategies. He has a strong track record of delivering long term growth and shareholder value.

He has a degree in Environmental Engineering from London South Bank University and is a UK qualified Chartered Engineer.  He was a founder member of WSP Group Plc, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1987 where he remained as CEO until a merger in 2012 to become WSP Global Inc. Mr Cole remains as the Non-Executive Chairman. He has held a number of non-executive roles including Chairman of Ashtead Group plc leading the group for 12 successful years.

He was appointed as Non-Executive Independent Chairman on 7th May 2014, and thereafter re-elected every four years at the AGM in 2018 and most recently on the 28th June 2022.

Mr Cole holds 28,470 shares (0.022%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Mr. Amigó was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Applus Group with effect from 28th June 2022. He was previously the Group Chief Financial Officer since 2007, joining the Group Board of Directors in 2019.

He has a solid career in managerial and financial positions with strong strategic and leadership roles. As Chief Financial Officer he led the Financial, Tax, IT, IR, and Purchasing functions. With his thorough financial background, his proven leadership abilities and deep knowledge of the testing industry and Applus+, he is leading Applus+ successfully onto the next stage of its journey. Mr. Amigo was a key architect of the Strategic Plan presented to the market in November 2021, has been instrumental in ensuring its execution since then and is committed to delivering it.

He holds a degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a Management Development Programme from IESE (Barcelona) and an Advanced Management Programme from ESADE (Barcelona and Wharton-Pennsylvania).

He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1991 as an external auditor. In 1994, he joined Bimbo (Sara Lee), a consumer goods company based in Spain and Portugal, where he held various senior positions: Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Financial Shared Services Director, Controller and Internal Audit Director. In 2006, he was appointed Vice President for Financial Planning and Control at Sara Lee Bakery’s Europe Division.

Mr Amigo was appointed as the CEO following the retirement of Fernando Basabe after eleven years at the Group.

Mr Amigó holds 119,625  shares (0.093%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Mr Villén is an industrial engineer, graduated from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He holds a Master in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and he has an MBA from Columbia University.

Previously, Mr Villén was the Chief Executive Officer of Ferrovial Aeropuertos and Chief Financial Officer at Ferrovial. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Midland Montagu Ventures and Smith Kline & French, as well as other responsibilities at Abbott Laboratories and Corning Glass Works. He currently sits on the Boards of FCC Aqualia. He is also external advisor for IFM Investors, an Australian infrastructure fund.

He was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 27^th October 2015, and thereafter re-elected by the AGM on May 29^th 2020.

Mr Villén holds 15,000 shares (0.012%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Ms Henriquez holds a degree in Business Administration and Economics from ICADE E2 in Madrid.

She is CEO, President and Managing Director in Spain and Head of Iberia and Israel at GlaxoSmithKline and various subsidiaries of that group, as well as an Independent Director and member of the Audit Committee of Meliá Hotels International, S.A and Viscofan, S.A.

Previously she held a variety of senior finance roles at GSK, and was at Procter & Gamble Europe based in Switzerland after an extensive Latin American experience based in Peru and Mexico.

She is Vice President of the Health Sciences Foundation, Vice President of the Spain Health Foundation, Vice President and member of the Governing Council and of the Board of Directors of Farmaindustria and Member of the Executive Committee of Fundación SERES, Society and Responsible Company.

She was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 21^st July 2016. 

Ms Henriquez holds 4,000 shares (0.003%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Ms Esteruelas holds a degree in Industrial Electrical Engineering from ICAI (Madrid). She has a Master’s degree in Operations from the Instituto de Empresa (Madrid) and a General Management Executive Programme from the IESE (Madrid).

Ms Esteruelas currently serves as CEO of Ferrovial Construcción.

Most of her career has been at Abengoa, which she joined in 1997, performing a variety of senior positions, becoming General Director for America in charge of all subsidiary companies in the continent and integrating the Executive Committee. Previously she was CEO of the Power Division and formerly Executive Vice President of Latin America.

From July 2014 to December 2017, she was member of the Atlantica Yield Board of Directors appointed by Abengoa.

She was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 20th February 2019.

Ms Esteruelas holds 4,567 shares (0.004%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Ms Kairisto has a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Fachhochschule Bielefeld (Germany).

Ms Kairisto was the Chief Financial Officer and a Board Director for Hochtief Solutions AG until 2016 after which she has taken on independent consulting roles. These include since 2015, Supervisory Board Member of Freudenberg, the privately owned German technology company, and since 2018, Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Fortum Oyj, the clean energy generation and distribution company that is listed on the Helsinki stock exchange. Additionally, Ms Kairisto is member of the Supervisory Board of TenneT, the Dutch state owned leading European electricity transmission system operator (TSO) with its main activities in the Netherlands and Germany. She is also an independent, non-exececutive Director of Iveco Group N.V. Board and Chairperson of their Audit Committee and Independent Director of Fugro N.V.

Prior to her move to Hochtief Solutions in 2013, Ms Kairisto had several high profile roles in finance and general management including at Sasol, RWE and Schlumberger. 

She was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 09^th April 2019.

Ms Kairisto holds 2,000 shares (0.002%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Ms. Damesin holds a Post-graduate degree (DEA) in Economics from Paris Dauphine University, an MBA from ESSEC Business School and has also graduated with high distinction for the Board Director Diploma at IMD Lausanne.

Her career has been focused on the automotive industry in global roles and responsibilities starting at the Compagnie Des Wagons-Lits & Du Tourisme and subsequently joined Renault in 1984, where she developed her wide experience holding different managerial positions, including Member of the Renault Management Committee for Latin America, the Renault Foundation CSR Board Member and a Board Member for Renault Spain. She has also been Vice President Human Resources and General Affairs for the European Region at Nissan and between 2011 and 2018 she was Executive Vice President for Human Resources and Member of the Executive Committee of Renault. Concurrently she was Member of the Management Board for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.

She was elected CHRO of the year in France in 2017 and was President of the Association of CAC 40 Chief Human Resources Officers.

Ms. Damesin is currently an Independent Director on several companies’ boards, including Urbanis and Energie Jeunes, as well as a Senior Advisor and Executive Coach at Boston Consulting Group.

She is a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest order of merit.

She was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 17 November 2021.

Ms Damesin holds 2,000 shares (0.002%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Mr. Connolly has significant experience and knowledge of the Testing, Inspection and Certification sector, deep sectorial knowledge of the oil and gas industry and over 10 years of non-executive leadership roles.

Following his BSc qualification from Southampton University in Business Economics and Sociology, his career started at Schlumberger, where he worked for 24 years holding diverse managerial positions in both operations and finance and in many regions, including Europe, Latin America, USA, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He was CEO of Atos Origin UK, America and Asia and CEO of Moody International, which was acquired by Intertek Group plc in 2011. At Intertek, he was appointed VP Middle East, Russia, FSU and Eastern Europe.

He is currently a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee at both Pepco Group N.V and Synthomer plc where he is also the Senior Independent Director and he is also a Non-Executive Director at Victrex Plc.

He recently completed a Cyber Security for Business Leaders course run by the reputable Saïd Business School at Oxford University.

He was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 17 November 2021.

Mr Connolly holds 800 shares (0.001%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Mr Mata has a degree in Economics from the University of Geneva and PADE from IESE (Barcelona).

Mr Mata has held many Board positions, including a Director of Unión Fenosa (Gas Natural), Chairman of Unión Fenosa Soluziona S.A., and Director of Abertis Infraestructuras S.A., where he was also Chairman of the Audit Committee.

He is currently Chairman of the Advisory Board of KPMG Spain and Quironsalud. He also sits on the Boards or Advisory Committees of other organisations and private companies in Spain.

He was appointed as Director of Applus+ on 29^th November 2007, and thereafter re-elected every four years at the AGM in 2018 and most recently on the 28th June 2022.

Mr Mata holds 2,860 shares (0.002%) in Applus+. The total share ownership of the Board of Directors can be seen from this Link.

Mr Conde has a degree in Law from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a postgraduate degree in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

He is a specialist in Corporate and Business law, Capital Markets and M&A and is a Partner in the Madrid offices of Osborne Clark. Previously, he was a Partner at Pérez-Llorca and worked at Uría Menéndez in Spain and Chile. He is also a lecturer at several universities and is a regular speaker at conferences.

He was appointed as Secretary Non-Director of Applus+ on 28^th January 2016.