Born in 1970, Mr. José Manuel Vargas joined Rhône in 2007 as a Senior Advisor and became a Managing Director in 2017. In April 2021, Mr. Vargas temporarily stepped down as Managing Director of the firm and returned to his role as Senior Advisor, to devote his efforts to Maxam, a company within Rhône's investment portfolio, as he assumed the position of Executive Chairman and CEO of Maxam in May 2020.

Previously, he served as the Chairman and CEO of Aena SME, S.A. leading its restructuring, partial privatization and IPO in 2015. Prior to joining Aena, he held senior management positions at Vocento S.A., where he served as CFO until his promotion to CEO and was also CEO of ABC. Before his tenure in the communication sector, he was the CFO and General Secretary of JOTSA (part of the Philipp Holzmann Group).

In addition to Mr. Vargas’s role as an Executive Chairman of Maxam, he also serves on the Board of Directors of Fluidra S.A. Over his career, Mr. Vargas has also served on the Board of Directors of several other companies, including Aena, Vocento, Diario ABC, Cadena COPE, Net TV, Diario El Correo and Wellbore Integrity Solutions.

In 2015, he was awarded ‘Best Executive of the Year’ by the Spanish Association of Executives (AED) and acknowledged as ‘Person of the Year’ within the Economic and Financial world by ‘El Economista’ (Spanish Financial Outlet).

Mr. Vargas earned degrees in Economics and Business from Complutense University of Madrid and holds a law degree from UNED. He is also a Chartered Accountant.

Mr. Vargas reprised his role as Rhône Managing Director effective as of January 1, 2024, and concurrent with his move to Rhône’s London office, where he has assumed responsibilities overseeing Rhône’s European operations. He has therefore stepped down as CEO of Maxam and will remain Executive Chairman of the multinational as part of Rhône’s continued oversight of its investment.

Since the start of 2024, he has also been appointed as a director of two companies: ASK Chemicals, part of Rhône's portfolio, and Petra Diamonds.