José Julián Echevarría, SENER Aeroespacial Managing Director, new President of HEGAN

The Basque aerospace cluster HEGAN has appointed the Managing Director of SENER Aeroespacial, José Julián Echevarría, as its new President, taking over from Carlos Alzola, CEO of ITP Aero, former President of HEGAN. The appointment took place during the annual General Assembly of the association, held at the BEC in Bilbao on June 15.

The Aeronautics and Space Cluster Association HEGAN consists of 68 members, positioned through practically the whole aerospace value chain. Among its Partners are 4 Tier1, 48 industrial companies, 6 technological centres, 5 universities and 5 cluster allies. At present, members have a total of 169 facilities around the world, including 83 centres in the Basque Country, 56 in the rest of Spain and 30 locations abroad.

Associates generated an aggregate turnover of €1,867 million in their plants in 2021, compared to €1,874 million in 2020. Engines represented 46.4% of turnover; Aerostructures 44.6%; Systems and Equipment, 4.7%, and Space, 4.3%. Employment rates recovered, with the creation of 420 direct jobs, surpassing the barrier of 14,000 direct jobs in all its plants. Investment in R+D+i reached €117 million and exports stood at €1,371 million, representing 73.4% of total sales. By county, in this period exports to the United Kingdom (32%), the USA (21%), Germany (17%) and France (13%) stand out.

For his part, José Julián Echevarría has been Managing Director of SENER Aeroespacial since 2018. He has had a long career path in SENER, a group he joined in 1989 and where he has been working professionally ever since. He began as an engineer in the Structures and Mechanisms Section and in 2004 was appointed Director of Operations of Aerospace in Bilbao and later held the same position for the entire SENER Aerospace business unit. In 2013, he was appointed General Manager for this business unit. After the acquisition of the TRYO Aerospace & Electronics group, he was chosen Managing Director of the whole Aerospace activity of the SENER group.

José Julián Echevarría holds a degree in Mechanical Industrial Engineering from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería (ETSI) (Higher College of Technology) in Bilbao and a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Deusto.