Leadership/Subsidiaries

Carlos Oehling

Chairman of the Board Directors

In 1986 he started his professional career in Basel (Switzerland) in the Marketing-Controlling department of the pharmaceutical company Hoffman La Roche. He subsequently worked for Bayer as a controller in Spain until 1989.

In 1989 he joined the general management of Grupo Serva (Glaser), a manufacturer of automotive components.

Carlos worked as a Senior Manager of Dana Corporation for three years, becoming an active member of the company's strategic committees in Spain.

A graduate of Economics and Business Administration from the University of Zaragoza, he gained an EDP degree (Executive Development Program) in 1997 from the University of Michigan Business School, and a Diploma in Business Administration (PADE) from IESE (University of Navarra) in 1999.

In January 2009 he joined Fersa Bearings as CEO, with the objective of making Fersa a leader in the design and manufacture of bearings, becoming Chairman of the Board Directors in 2024,

From the beginning, we have been committed to develop high-precision, high-performance  bearings. This has been the main reason for the continuous strong increase in our sales and it makes us be part of the leading group of companies in mobility.

 

Francisco Javier García Sanz

Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors

Francisco Javier García Sanz studied in Germany, where he completed his educational training in trade and exports in 1976 and subsequently studied Business Administration at the Wiesbaden Business School. He received an honorary doctorate from the Institute of Business Administration from the University of Stuttgart in 2008.

Among his awards and recognitions, he has received the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit; granted to him by the Spanish government in 2010.

García Sanz has a wide range of experience in the automotive sector.

After starting his professional career at Adam Opel AG and developing different roles until he became the Executive Director of Worldwide Purchasing at GM Corporation (Detroit, USA), in 1993 he went to work at Volkswagen, where he was a member of the brand's Executive Committee and became the group's vice-president. At the same time, he was appointed executive vice president of SEAT, S.A., later becoming a director in 1997 and the Board Chairman since 2007. He has also been president of Volkswagen Navarra and VGED (Volkswagen Group Spain Distribution) and a member of the Board of Directors of Audi AG, Volkswagen FAW (China), Shanghai Volkswagen and Scania AB, as well as a member of Porsche AG's Supervisory Board. Between June 2009 and July 2012 he was president of ANFAC and, later on, a member of it. He also held a significant position in the German Automobile Suppliers Association (VDA).

He is a member of the Fersa Bearings' Board of Directors since the end of 2019,currently bearing the title of Vice-Chairman.

Fersa is a global company that has grown considerably in recent years, demonstrating to know how to adapt to the sector's new reality. The numbers obtained by the company ratify the importance of its corporate culture and demonstrate that it is an enterprise that is not afraid to face great challenges.

Robert Hanser

Member Board of Directors 

He was born in Melbourne, Australia, but grew up in Germany and studied economics at Mannheim University. He joined Robert Bosch in 1980 and had extremely interesting and inspiring business life within the company. He was assigned to different locations such as Germany, France, Spain and the UK, working in various industries including Automotive Power Tools, Consumer, Electronics, and Telecom. His last position was President of the Automotive Aftermarket.

After his retirement in June 2013, he became a member of the Board of Management of the in-house Consulting Bosch Management Support. In November 2015, he joined the Board of Directors of LKQ Corporation, based in Chicago, and he is proud to be part of this excellent company. Besides some other consultancy mandates, it is a great pleasure for him to be able to make a contribution to other companies such as McKinsey, Mekonomen, ACPS, and Mobilion VC.

Furthermore, he has enjoyed a number of assignments in different organizations and associations such as SMMT, VDA, Clepa, etc. He was Charmain of the German British Chamber of Commerce in London from 1996 to 2001. It has been a great honor for him to be awarded with the Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz).

Rafael Paniagua

Chief Executive Officer

Rafael Paniagua studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Seville, completing his training in Mechanical Engineering and School of Management at the University of Sheffield (UK), PADE and Board Members Course at IESE Business School, as well as Executive Education at Harvard Business School and IMD (Lausanne).

He was awarded the University Prize corresponding to the School of Industrial Engineering of the University of Seville by the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla as First of the Class of 1992.

Rafael Paniagua has developed his professional career at ABB. He started his professional career at ABB in Cordoba in 1994, developing several functions in the production area, being later appointed General Manager of ABB in Zaragoza in 1998. He worked for several years in ABB in the United States and for more than 7 years he was Executive Vice President of the ABB Group, responsible for Global Business Units. He has also been Division Manager of Spain and Portugal for 8 years, and President and CEO of ABB Brazil for 7 years.

He has been Vice President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Associations of Capital Goods Manufacturers (Brazil) and of the European Chambers of Commerce in Brazil. Rafael Paniagua is an Executive Coach and Member of the Board of Directors of two European companies.

Since 2024, he has joined FERSA as CEO, to continue the exponential growth of the company.

Pedro Pablo Andreu

Chief Operating Officer

He began his professional career in 1997 as an area sales manager for one of Dana Holding's engine sealing element companies. After three years as head of Asia and the Americas, he became the company's export director for 4 years.

In 2004 he joined the CNA group, a home appliance manufacturer, as Corporate Expansion Manager, leading the company's international growth by developing OEMs and creating various subsidiaries in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

In 2009 he joined Fersa as General Globalization Manager, responsible for the company's international expansion with a triple focus: optimizing the competitiveness of purchasing and the supply chain, establishing commercial subsidiaries, and leading the creation of manufacturing plants and warehouses in Asia and the Americas. 

GMP from Harvard Business School (Cambridge, USA), ACE from MIT (Cambridge, USA), MBA from ESADE, Master in foreign trade management from ESIC, and Bachelor of Law from UCA.

He became General Manager of Fersa in 2012 and COO in 2015.

At Fersa we bet on talent, passion, and a desire to learn, have fun and improve every day. What matters is not what our challenges are, but more importantly what each one of us is doing today to surpass them.

 

Hugo Santos

Chief Business Development Officer

During his senior year of college, Hugo began his career as an intern in the logistics area of ​​Fersa. He stayed on for 3 years as head of planning and manufacturing.

In 2008 he temporary left the company to join the operations team of the Finnish group Cargotec, where he developed engineering functions and operations development for 2 years. In 2010, he resumed his career at Fersa as director of operations at the plant in Zaragoza. He has been the CEO of Fersa's Asian subsidiary in Jiaxing, China since 2011 until 2017. Since 2017 he's General Manager of Fersa Group's North American subsidiary in Toledo, Ohio. 

Hugo earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wales; a Specialized General Executive Master's degree (GEMBA) and a post-graduate degree in Steering and Business Administration from CEIBS, in Shanghai; and a Master's in Logistics of Zaragoza Logistics Center in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The greatest asset we have at Fersa is our team. Their passion, talent and creativity are our main driver to success.

Fernando Choliz

Chief Financial Officer

Fernando Chóliz holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Zaragoza, an MBA from Columbus-IBS Business School and a PDD from IESE of the University of Navarra.

He began his career in marketing, first as an intern at Vidrios Ariño Duglass and then as marketing director at Exafan, a company dedicated to construction and agricultural services equipment. From there he moved to the financial audit area at EY, where he worked for 6 years until he joined the Fersa project as Financial Controller in early 2008.

In 2012, he assumed the position of Global Finance and HR Director of the Group and has been CFO since 2020.

 At Fersa we transform problems into opportunities and our responsiveness exceeds the expectations of our stakeholders.

 

Miguel Alquézar

Fersa Bearings Jiaxing General Manager

Miguel started his career as a commercial engineer at Vector & Wellheads Engineering, a company dedicated to the manufacture of industrial valves, in 2012. In 2013 he was sent to the company's headquarters in Madrid, where he also worked as an engineer projects, mainly for the petrol, oil and gas refinery industry.

He began his career at Fersa in 2015 as a salesman managing accounts of great importance to the company. In 2018 he became the general manager of Fersa Bearings Brasil with the main objective of developing the company's presence in the South American country.

Since 2021 he is general manager of Fersa Bearings Jiaxing (China).

Miguel holds a degree at Advance Industrial Engineering from the University of Zaragoza, and coursed a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has a BSc in Business Administration from London University.

At Fersa we work to manufacture the best bearings and exceed the expectations of our customers. This makes us a benchmark for the industry and allows us to look to the future with confidence and optimism.