Learn More about Latin America

Event Agenda

Speaker Information

Session 1: Latin American Economic Outlook

Andrew Powell
 Principal Advisor of Research Department (RES) at IADB
 Former Chief Economist of Central Bank of Argentina

Andrew Powell is the Principal Advisor in the Research Department (RES). He holds a Ba, MPhil. and DPhil. (PhD) from the University of Oxford. Through 1994 he dedicated himself to academia in the United Kingdom as Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford and Associate Professor (Lecturer) at London University and the University of Warwick.

In 1995, he joined the Central Bank of Argentina and was named Chief Economist in 1996. He represented Argentina as a G20/G22 deputy and as member of three G22 working groups (on crisis resolution, financial system strengthening and transparency) in the late 1990’s. In 2001, he returned to academia, joining the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires as Professor and Director of Graduate Programs in Finance. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the World Bank, IMF and Harvard University.

He joined the IDB’s Research Department in 2005 as Lead Research Economist in 2008 and served as Regional Economic Advisor for the Caribbean Region until returning to the Research Department as the Principal Advisor. He has published numerous academic papers in leading economic journals in areas including commodity markets, risk management, the role of multilaterals, regulation, banking and international finance. He also edited a book recently on the Quality of Life in Latin American Cities: Markets and Perceptions.

Eduardo Montiel
Full Professor at INCAE Business School
Former Minister of Finance of Nicaragua

Full Professor at INCAE Business School where he has taught Finance and Banking for more than two decades. He has a doctorate from Harvard Business School specializing in Financial Institutions and Markets and a Master of Science from the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan and Mathematics and Economics at Williams College.

Professor Montiel served as Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economic Cabinet under President Enrique Bolaños in Nicaragua. He was also founder and first Presidential Delegate of ProNicaragua, the leading investment promotion agency in the country.

He was previously Dean of INCAE and has served on numerous boards in the private and public sector. Served as President of the Banking Supertendency in Nicaragua, the main banking regulator in the country; as Director of the Central Bank as well as Governor of the Interamerican Development Bank (IADB) and BCIE, leading regional development banks. He has also been a board member of regional private banks, insurance companies, foundations, and nonprofit institutions. He has served as advisor to multinationals and international organizations. He has received several distinctions for his academic record, his publications and his teaching.

Professor Montiel has authored four books and over 70 cases, articles and notes. He is a member of the editorial board of several publications, the latest being the International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance (IJBAF) edited in London.

Alfredo Rodriguez
Senior Risk Officer at IADB
Former Director Commercial Bank of Citigroup

Industrial Engineer Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá Colombia. Began his career developing a linear programming model to minimize nationwide production cost in the largest brewery in Colombia. Subsequently joined Citigroup in Colombia and had several responsibilities including: investment banking for financial institutions in which had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural debt and equity issuances of Colombian banks in international capital markets. Subsequently had the responsibility to create and manage the middle market customer segment for Citigroup in Colombia; manage the Financial Institutions business in Citigroup Colombia; manage the trade services for Financial Institutions for Latin America based in New York and Miami; and manage the commercial bank segment for Citigroup in Egypt based in Cairo. In 2009 joined Inter-American Development Bank and based in Washington DC oversees credit risk for Financial Institutions. Alfredo has also served as member of the Board of Directors of Citigroup Colombia and Colfondos, Colombian pension fund.

Session 2: Successful Business Experiences

Lionel Derteano
CEO & Directory Vice Chairman of EDYFICAR

Lionel Derteano holds a bachelor degree in Economics from Universidad de Lima in Peru and a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University, with a concentration in finance and operations.

He has a trajectory of more than twelve years in different managerial positions at Banco de Credito BCP, largest financial institution in Peru. Currently, he is CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of Financiera Edyficar, and board member of The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Peru.

He gives conferences at national and international events on issues related to Small Business Financing, Financial Evaluation and Management of Credit Programs for Micro and Small Enterprises.

Pedro Medina (Darden '86)
CEO of “Yo Creo Colombia” Foundation
Former CEO of McDonald's in Colombia

Pedro Medina is a professor, a catalyst, a mentor and a social entrepreneur. He is a Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University and a Batten Fellow.

He has worked in Mobil Polymers International, a division of Mobil Chemical, Propilco, a licensee of Union Carbide and Shell, Sofasa, the Toyota and Renault assembly plant in Colombia, and brought the McDonald´s brand into Colombia. He led the company as its General Manager for 7 years. While at McDonald´s, Medina founded and led a state of the art program called "I believe in Colombia" and in 2001 made 256 presentations to groups ranging from 20 to 70,000 in 13 cities and 3 countries. The program, now a non-profit foundation, has touched 650,000 Colombians in 155 cities and 26 countries, and has extended into I believe in Latin America.

He has been a Professor of business strategy, leadership and innovation in 4 universities for 18 years. Business magazine Dinero chose him as one of the 20 most valuable businessmen in Colombia. A columnist in 12 newspapers and magazines, Medina wrote his first book – Puentes, Redes y Trampolines and has collaborated on three others.

He holds a BA degree in Economics, History and International Relations from the University of Virginia, an MBA from the Darden School and a Bachelors in Hamburgerology from Hamburger University in Chicago. While in college, he was President of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity, and sold books door-to-door during 7 summers.

Mauricio Santillan
Founder of Grupo Visionaria: Private Equity Fund
Former Microsoft VP for Latin America Region

Born in Mexico City, Mauricio Santillan Razo has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering, specializing in Digital and Computer Systems, from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana de Mexico, Corporate Finance Diploma from the ITAM, and High Enterprise Managing for the IPADE-Mexico.

His professional career started joining Microsoft Mexico in 1987, as a software engineer, occupying positions as Technology and Systems Manager, Corporate Account Manager; as well as General Manager of Microsoft Ecuador and Microsoft Colombia, and Intercontinental Vice-President for Latin America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2002 he decided to leave the Corporation and join the Mexican productive sector by founding “Grupo Visionaria” including important initiatives as:

• An investment fund specialized in the development of high tech companies in Latin American Region.
• A holding corporation specialized in the Business Acceleration methodology incorporated to the PyMES (small and medium-sized business) Mexican market.
• A portal of business contents for Latin American PyMES, attending more than 500 companies annually.
• The project of an enterprise focused in educative video games.  

Mauricio Santillán is a businessman convinced of the economic power of the High Tech PyMEs. As such, he continues exploring business methods to monetize innovative processes. Since 2008, he has been the leader of the initiative of “serious games” for Latin-American region, and has developed an innovator business model used by Interaxial, enterprise focused in educative video games, to create INNOVU “The enterprising game” (www.innovu.me).

Sponsors

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