BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Garza Herrera joined Xignux in 1989 and served in various positions in the cables division until 1995, when he was named CEO of Magnekon, a cables and wires subsidiary. He was appointed group CEO in February 2012, taking over from the previous CEO, Eugenio Garza Herrera, who remains involved as chairman of the board. Mr. Garza Herrera has been a member of the Xignux board since 2000 and sits on the regional boards of Bancomer, a major Mexican bank partly owned by BBVA of Spain; and Nacional Financiera SNC. He is also a member of the board of Monterrey University and Instituto Nuevo Amanecer ABP. Mr. Garza Herrera holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Monterrey Tec (ITESM) and an MBA from the University of San Francisco (California).

XIGNUX

Xignux is an industrial consortium based in Monterrey, where it was founded in 1956 by Jorge Garza Garza, an engineer, who set up Conductores Monterrey to produce electric wire and cable for industrial customers. In 1964, the company acquired a minority stake in Conelec S.A. de C.V., and then in 1994 it increased its share to full ownership, pursued an aggressive process of expansion via acquisitions in cables and wiring, and branched out into cold meats, castings, and raw materials suppliers. In 2011, the company divested its castings operations to concentrate on core activities.

As of the end of 2012, the group employs 17,000 people in four main divisions: cables, transformers, infrastructure, and food. These operate in more than two dozen production facilities and various distribution centers in Mexico, the United States, India, Brazil, and Colombia.
Foodstuffs are mainly meats, cheeses, and savory snacks, with production in Mexico and Texas. Heavy industrial equipment produced by Xignux includes electrical power transformers in a joint venture with GE that dates from 1995, later expanded to include distribution transformers.

Xignux currently exports over half of its production to more than thirty countries. In 2012, the company acquired an electric cable and wiring production subsidiary in Colombia as part of its strategy to focus on high-growth markets.