Keynote Speakers
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Dr. Joaquim Tres, Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Dr. Joaquim Tres is a Spanish national that has spent most of his professional career working on development issues in Latin America. Prior to joining the IDB, he set up the Knowledge Management System for its Multilateral Investment Fund. Joaquim Tres was Executive Director of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI), where he was the Principal Editor of the annual report of Higher Education in the World published annually by Palgrave-Macmillan. For the past 20 years, he has been involved in development work, ranging from research and policy-making to management. He has worked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, with the Ministry of Education in Peru and represented the Spanish Aid Agency (the Spanish equivalent of USAID) from 1993 to 2004 in Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala and Belize. Dr. Tres holds a Degree in International Relations from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and an MPhil in Development Economics from the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex (England), where he served as member of its Governing Body until recently. He was one of the founders of the Alumni Association. | |
Panel and Round Table Speakers
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Roberto Castello, Director Investors Relations - Vale Roberto Castello-Branco joined Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) in July 1999 and is currently director of the Investor Relations Department where he received the award of Best Investor Relations executive (large cap companies) by IR Magazine Awards 2007 - Brazil. Previously, he was president of the Brazilian Investor Relations Institute from 2002 to 2004. Mr. Castello-Branco is a former director of the Central Bank of Brazil. He was a professor of economics at the Graduate School of Economics, FundaGetVargas; executive vice president of IBEMEC, a Brazilian business school; and also worked as executive director of Banco Boavista and Banco Interatlantico in Brazil. After completing his doctoral studies, Mr. Castello-Branco was a post doctoral fellow in economics at the University of Chicago. He holds a PhD in economics from FundaGetVargas, Brazil. | |
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José Parés, Vicepresident, International Markets - Grupo Modelo José Parés was born in Mexico City in 1970. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Panamericana and an MBA from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). He also completed the executive management D-1 program at the Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa, IPADE. He began working at Grupo Modelo in 1994 and has held different positions within the company, including financial planning and investment analysis. Before being appointed to his current position, he served as Director for Communications and Image. He was appointed Vicepresident, International Markets in 2005. | |
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Jorge Becerra, Senior Partner and Managing Director - BCG Mr. Becerra joined BCG in 1988 and worked in the London and Madrid offices until 1995, when he was elected Partner and Managing Director. He transferred to South America where he has opened offices in Buenos Aires (’95), Santiago (’02) and Miami (’03). He supported the launch of BCG’s Sao Paulo office (’97). He is currently the Managing Partner for BCG’s Miami and Southern Cone offices and the head of the Latin America Financial Services Practice Area. In the last twelve years, Mr. Becerra has led several key assignments for financial services, telecom, retail and industrial clients. Mr. Becerra holds an MBA from the University of Navarra, IESE, Barcelona. He attended Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, IL, where he participated in the MBA exchange program. He holds a degree in industrial engineering from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is married to Carmen and has three daughters. | |
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Alejandro Alarcón, CEO Chilean Bank Association Since 1995 Alejandro Alarcón has been the General Manager of Asociación de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras de Chile, entity from which he has developed active work in the matter of improvement of the regulations of the sector, his participation in the reforms of the General Bank Law and Capitals Market being outstanding, as well as in the preparation of the supplementary regulations. Mr. Alarcón joined the bank industry more than fifteen years ago, after completing his doctorate studies in Economics in the University of Rochester of New York. After performing as Economic Adviser of Asociacion de Bancos, he became the Chief Economist of the entity, from which position he gave an impulse to the development of the macroeconomic and financial reports of the sector. | |
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Rodrigo Arboleda, Director of Development LatAm - One Laptop per Child and Teacher Rodrigo Arboleda is the Director of Development Latin America and the Caribbean of the One Laptop Per Child and Per Teacher Project, known as OLPC. He is in charge of presenting the OLPC initiative to governments in the region, frequently meeting with heads of state and ministers of education to explain the benefits and promote the adoption of the project. Mr. Arboleda has 40 years of top executive experience in the private and public sectors. He is currently a partner at the business development firm for Latin America, The Globis Group LLC, together with former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha. | |
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Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Founder of IGNIA Prior to founding IGNIA Álvaro Rodríguez served as the Chief Financial Officer of Grupo Vitro, one of the largest glass manufacturers in the world. Prior to joining Vitro, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Farmacias Benavides (Far-Ben). Far-Ben is the largest drugstore chain in Latin America with US$500 million in sales at 600 stores and 6,500 employees. From 1999 to 2002, Álvaro served as Chief Financial. Officer of Grupo Elektra, Mexico’s largest specialty retailer and one of the largest consumer finance companies in Latin America. After six years of service, in 2007 he was elected as Chair of the Board of Directors of ACCION International. | |
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Luis Fernando Samper, Director of Intellectual Property - Juan Valdez Mr. Samper completed his Economics degree- both his bachelor’s and MSC- at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá. During his graduate and undergraduate years, Mr. Samper fulfilled parts of his degrees at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and he earned his and MSC in Law in Universidad de los Andes and an MBA from Columbia University in New York. In 1988 he joined the Commercial Department of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC), one of the largest rural NGO´s in the world comprising over 560,000 coffee growers. | |
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Angel Alverde, CEO Office Depot Mexico Mr. Angel Alverde Losada is the Founder and CEO of Office DEPOT Mexico. He has an undergraduate degree in Business and Administration from the Universidad Iberoamericana and a graduate degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University with Finance and Marketing Majors. In March of 1994 he founded Office DEPOT Mexico and since then he has been serving as CEO of that company. Office DEPOT Mexico is a 6,300 employee enterprise with operations in Mexico and Central America with sales through more than 160 retail stores, an online store and catalogs. Mr. Alverde is or has served as a member of the board of directors of the following institutions: | |
| Grupo Financiero IXE, Grupo Gigante, Mexicana de Aviación, C&A, Fundación Beca, Olimpiadas Especiales, and as from 2005 to 2007 served as President of the board of directors of the Asociación Nacional de Tiendas de Autoservicio y Departamentales A.C. | ||
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Elaine R. Sugimura, President - Alpargatas, USA. Inc Elaine began her career in 1984 at Manetti-Farrow Inc., the sole distributor of the Gucci and Fendi Accessories in the US. After a year in the sales area and she quickly moved into the role of Regional Sales Manager and with her passion for product, analysis and adventure, she was asked to take on a new management role as the Merchandise Manager. From this very first experience, she traveled extensively from the corporate offices in Northern California to sales markets in New York and merchant trips to Florence, Italy. After seven wonderful years, Elaine chose a new career and decided to spend valuable time raising her two sons, Bryce and Cole. After several years as PTA and Swim Club President, Elaine was called back to the branded world with the then San Francisco based Esprit de Corp. | |
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