Fernando Pereira (engineer)

Pereira was a professor of accounting and financial management at IESE for decades, both in the MBA and the executive education programs. In 2001, he was named professor emeritus.

In 1978, for health reasons, he was replaced as IESE's dean by Juan Antonio Pérez López, but remained on the board of directors (1978-1981). Later, he served as associate dean under Pedro Nueno (1981-1992).

Another milestone in his leadership was the opening of the IESE campus in Madrid in 1974, in order to promote training for business leaders and executives in the Spanish capital.

After serving on the board of directors, he was named the school's dean (1970-1978), succeeding Juan Ginebra Torra. He was known as a leader who listened to the opinions of others, and who surrounded himself with a trustworthy team, making important decisions collaboratively.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Pereira actively promoted and developed research at IESE, serving as the university's research director (1959-1964) as well as its director of executive education programs.

Fernando Pereira was a key figure in the founding of IESE Business School, alongside Antonio Valero Vicente. In 1958, he moved to Barcelona and formed part of the founding team, which also included Félix Huerta Herrero, Anton Wurster, Rafael Termes, Juan Ferrán Nadal and Carlos Cavallé. With Valero, he travelled to numerous educational institutions around Europe to get a firsthand perspective of the best practices in business education. During their visit to the L'École d'Administration des Affaires in Lille, it was decided that Pereira would stay there to finish his teacher training. A year later, he joined IESE's Department of Information and Economic Control as a professor.

Fernando Pereira attended the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Madrid, before studying engineering at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (1951-1956). He graduated from the L'École d'Administration des Affaires in Lille in 1959 and attended the Managerial Economics Seminar at the University of California, Berkeley in 1961. In 1967, he received a PhD in engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Fernando Pereira Soler (Madrid, December 24, 1930–Barcelona, March 31, 2018), civil engineer, university professor and third dean of IESE Business School. His book "Accounting for Management", first published in 1970, is in its 25th edition.