CALI II Fellows
COSTA RICA
Aurelia Garrido
Vice Minister of Culture in Costa Rica until June 2008, responsible for the implementation of cultural policies and the coordination among 32 government entities that make up the culture sector. Under her leadership, new strategies such as Culture and Economic Development, Culture and Environmental Sustainability and Culture and Rural Culture Development have risen. Aurelia has vast international experience in the promotion of Sustainable development. As coordinator of Strategic initiatives for Avina Foundation, she managed the relationship with strategic partners in Latin America, United States and Spain, as well as joint initiatives for Latin America in the fields of education, corporate social responsibility and social integration. She was also Regional Operations Manager and Project manager for Avina Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of FUNDES in Costa Rica, the Advisor Committee for Costa Rica Joven. She has a Summa Cum Laude Bachelors degree Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Autonoma de Centroamerica, and a master in Business Administration from INCAE, where she graduated with the highest distinction, becoming the first woman to receive the award Escolasta Distinguida. Aurelia lives in San José and has two children.
Gerardo Sánchez
Chief Financial Officer of Clinica Biblica Hospital. The Clinica Biblica Hospital is the largest private hospital in the country and is owned by ASEMECO, a non profit organization focused on social responsibility programs developed in marginalized areas of Costa Rica. Mr. Sánchez has worked extensively in the formulation and execution of the strategic plan for the next 5-10 years at the Clinica Biblica, and his leadership has led the organization to find new opportunities for the future of healthcare in Costa Rica. Outside the hospital Mr. Sánchez is on the board of various local companies in a variety of fields such as information technology, printing, health-pharmacy and the Costa Rican stock market. Gerardo holds a MBA degree from INCAE, graduated with honors, and was class valedictorian. He also holds a Business Administration Degree in Finance from the University of Costa Rica. He is married with two children.
Ignacio Sánchez
Director ISC Productions until 2006. Ignacio produced and directed top rating prime time TV shows for Channel 7 in Costa Rica and as a Special Advisor to President Oscar Arias and Ministry of Transport, Karla Gonzalez in issues related from image and communications to Road Safety and Traffic Police Operations. As former Chief of Traffic Police and Executive Director of the Road Safety Council (2002-2004) he coordinated various initiatives such as the mandatory safety belt law and media campaigns and created new police strategies that led to a 30% decrease in accident related fatalities (2002-2205). Before that, (1987-1998), he graduated from Advertising, Journalism and Audiovisual Production. He has an extensive and prize winning career (1993-2002) as a television anchor and reporter and press journalist for various networks as Channel 7 and La Nacion in Costa Rica, and CNN Latinamerica and Tele 5 and Television Española abroad. He spent 3 years as an itinerant correspondent reporting from Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia. He is now writing a script with the intention of producing and directing his first film.
Renata Villers
Renata Villers is a founding member and executive director of ADA (ada.org.cr), the leading NGO pioneering teacher professional development to improve educational opportunities for low-income children in Costa Rica. With ADA since 2000, Ms. Villers is responsible for organizational strategy, stakeholder relations, collaborations development and fundraising. Today ADA benefits from multi-sector collaborations with faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education, other academic advisors, private corporations and non-governmental organizations. Before ADA, Ms. Villers was an independent consultant to several Costa Rican non-governmental organizations, including the National Institute for Biodiversity (INBio), where she was responsible for marketing research, strategic planning and the development of biodiversity based collaborations with academic partners and corporations, such as Merck and Eli Lilly. Prior to coming to Costa Rica, Ms. Villers was a consultant with J.E. Austin Associates – the consulting group of Harvard Business School professor James E. Austin – where she developed case studies, training materials and other products for developing country NGOs and institutional clients, such as the Woman's World Banking and the International Finance Corporation. Ms. Villers is a magna cum laude graduate in economics from Harvard University and holds an MBA from the Columbia Business School. Since 1992 she works in Costa Rica, where she resides with her husband and two daughters.
EL SALVADOR
Carmen Irene Alas
Juan Marco Alvarez Gallardo
Executive Director, SalvaNATURA, San Salvador. Since 1990, Juan Marco has been executive Director of SalvaNATURA – El Salvador´s premier environmental nonprofit organization. He has oriented its work on national park and integrated watershed management, conservation science, and environmental education, as well as the promotion of certification and best practices for the agriculture and tourism industries. Thanks to this diverse work, SalvaNATURA was awarded the National Environmental Prize in 1998, 2003, and again in 2006. He formed part of the Ministry of the Environment´s advisory committee during 1997 – 1999, its founding years, and is also a member of the recently formed CONAMA, the strategic advisory committee for the Ministry of the Environment under the Government of President Tony Saca. He is the first Salvadoran to have been elected to the board of directors of the World Conservation Union – UICN, based in Geneva, Switzerland – the only global environmental organization with a “voice” in the UN forum – for the period of 2004 – 2008. Most recently, as representative of the environmental sector he has been appointed on the board of directors of the Millenium Fund of El Salvador (FOMILENIO), which will oversee the execution of approximately $480 million for a development project in northern El Salvador funded by the Millenium Challenge Corporation. Mr. Alvarez has a master´s degree on business administration and sustainable development from INCAE, Costa Rica, obtained in 1995. He is married and has three children.
Rafael Barraza
Director General of the Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios (ESEN), the leading undergraduate institution of El Salvador in the business, economics and law fields. He was president of the country's Central Bank from 1999 to 2002 during the country's successful move towards dollarization. Former governor at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, IADB and CABEI, he is currently on the Board of Directors for FUSADES (the Salvadorian foundation for economic and social growth), Banco Agrícola and Estrategia y Negocios. He is a founding member of América Libre Institute and the Instituto de Economía Aplicada (IDEA), two recently created think tanks. He holds a BA from Rice University and a Licenciatura and Master's Degrees from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
GUATEMALA
Luis Miguel Castillo
Currently Vice-president of The Central America Beverage Corporation – CABCORP, the anchor bottler for Pepsi Cola in Central America, and exclusive distributor for Brahva beer (joint venture with AmBev). During his tenure, CABCORP was transformed from a Guatemalan soft drink company into a multinational corporation operating in 4 countries with the most complete beverage portfolio. Under his leadership CABCORP became in the first Central American corporation to issue bonds in the Luxemburg Stock Market and to obtain a rating from Moody's Investor Service. He is also President of AmBev Centroamérica, S.A., the joint venture between CABCORP and AmBev (the largest beer company in the world) for the development of the beer market in Central America and the Caribbean. Mr. Castillo serves as Director of the Guatemalan Chamber of Industry; he is a member of Young Presidents Organization, member of Consejo Empresario de América Latina – CEAL –; and Director of Invest in Guatemala (an entity that promotes the foreign investment for the country). He actively collaborates with charitable institutions such as Fundación Ayúdame a Vivir -AYUVI – a foundation established to cure pediatric cancer, the Valle de Los Angeles Orphanage, the María Luisa Monge de Castillo Foundation and with the Guatemalan Chapter of United Way. He graduated from Boston University, with a degree in Business Administration and lives in Guatemala City with his wife and his 3 children.
Hugo R. Díaz
Director and Co-Founder of Biznet, Guatemala. Biznet develops Web Applications for clients in Guatemala, U.S. and Europe, and recently entered the mobile industry, becoming a top content aggregator for mobile operators in Central America. Hugo is also founder and partner of Xchange; an innovating corporate barter firm, and La Tasca; a Spanish food restaurant. His passion for entrepreneurship started in high school when he joined and excelled in Junior Achievement of which he is member of the board of Directors. He is also founder and President of the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Guatemala (AJE Guatemala), which is part of the Iberoamerican Federation of Young Entrepreneurs (CIJE). He serves as a Director for the Business Angels Network of Guatemala, helping entrepreneurs find investors to fund their projects. Previously Hugo was a Commercial Director for TerraLycos in Central America and the Caribbean. He has lived and worked in three continents, and has been a conference speaker in more than ten countries. He was the first and only Guatemalan to be appointed as a Vice President for AIESEC International for the term 1999-2000, working full time in Rotterdam, The Netherlands after working on an internship in Sydney, Australia. Hugo earned a BS Cum Laude in Management of Information Systems and has a Postgraduate degree in Marketing from Francisco Marroquin University. He lives with his wife in Guatemala City.
Roberto González Díaz-Durán
Mr. González is at the moment Director and Consultor for several companies. Since 1999 he is an University professor of the Faculty of Economy and Business Administration from UFM and combines his private and academic activities with the planning and conformation of a new Political Project for Guatemala, after having participated as a candidate for Mayor of the City of Guatemala in the past elections of 2007, where he occupied second place, approximately with 30% of the electorate vote. He has nearly an 18 year trajectory in public service. In the Central Government he was Manager of the Presidency of the Republic (2005-7); Minister of Energy and Mines (2004-5) and President of the National Institute of Electrification - INDE- (2004-5). In the Municipal Government he was elected fifth Council of the City of Guatemala; Manager and Founder of the Regulating Organization of the Metropolitan Transport and Transit – EMETRA - and the Municipal Police of Transit PMT (1997-1999); and Assistant director of the Municipal Company of Water of the City of Guatemala - EMPAGUA- (1991-1996). In the privete sector, Mr. González has worked in agro-industrial and power fields, as well as directed consulting services. He has a Masters Degree in Economics and a specialization course in Social Evaluation of Projects from Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile; a Degree in Economics and a Masters in Sociology from UFM, as well as various Portgraduate Ejecutive Curses in prestigious foreign universities (Northwestern-Kellog; Berkeley; London School of Economics, INCAE, etc.). He is married and has three children
María Pacheco
General Manager, Kiej de los Bosques, S.A., Guatemala City, Guatemala. Ms. Pacheco is the founder and general manager of Kiej de los Bosques, S.A. Kiej is a company that links rural communities to markets, therefore, generating sources of income in rural areas. Kiej does this through incubation of rural business, marketing of products and developing national and international programs with government or international organizations. Kiej is actually developing two of these systems: one with the First Lady of Guatemala and one with the United Nations Foundation and UNDP. Ms. Pacheco also participates in other spaces, like in the board of directors for the Center for Social Responsibility in Guatemala (CENTRARSE); founder of the Rural Entrepreneurship Association (AGER), Latin American Center for Rural Development (RIMISP), Vital Voices in Washington and the Alliance for the New Humanity. Maria has a degree in Biology from Universidad del Valle in Guatemala and a master in agriculture from Cornell University, in New York. Ms. Pacheco has three children and lives in Guatemala.
HONDURAS
Marcia Facussé de Villeda
Congresswoman Macia Facusse de Villeda is the Alternate Second Vice President of the Honduran National Congress. She also presides over the Family and Children Commission of Congress. She is also a member of the Telecommunications, Finance, and Women's Commissions. She served as director of the First Lady's Office at the Family and Children's Institution (INFHA). When Honduras was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1997, she was named the official government liaison to the World Food Program. She was also a close collaborator with then President of Honduras, Carlos Roberto Flores de Facusse. She obtained a business administration degree from (UNITEL) Universidad Tecnologica at Honduras; while raising her children. Her professional background is in business administration and media communications. She is the business manager for her family owned television production enterprise. Her voluntary activities include the Teleton Foundation focused on handicapped children, the Torax Hospital's Advisory Committee. She was born and raised in Honduras and is of Arab descent. She is married and has 4 American children.
José Jesús Mora García
Father Mora is a Catholic Priest, and is currently Director of Student Affaits at the University of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He received the Priest Order from Cardinal Rodríguez in the Suyapa Basilica in 1994. He is also the Student Affairs Director of the Universidad Tecnologica de Honduras. From 2000-2006, Father Mora was the General Manager of Catholic Foundation for Education and Social Communication (www.fundacioncatolica.org), which includes the Catholic Church's Newspaper, FIDES, Dean of the National Press; a Radio Station; a TV Station, Channel 48 and a Unit of Audiovisual Producer, FECS. He participates in diverse forums for civic participation, representing to the conference of Bishops: Coalition for Improvement of the Justice, National Forum of Convergence, Commission of Notables, etc. He was in charge of the Press Office of the Bishops in the Conference in Honduras and he was the Spokesman of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa until December 2006. He has been an ethics professor in the Mayor Seminary (Formation house for future priests), Superior Institute of Police Education and the Honduras Catholic University. He has participated in many courses, workshops and congress of Journalism and Social Communications in Latin America, USA and Europe.
Jose Rafael Rivera Ferrari
Consortium-J.R. Paz & Asociados, Honduras. He graduated with highest honors from the National University of Honduras School of Law in 1994, joined his law firm as a Junior Associate and was admitted to the Honduran bar that same year. He holds and a Masters of Law (LL.M) from the University of Chicago School of Law, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar and specialized in Economic Analysis of Law with a background in Corporate Finance. Mr. Rivera is a Notary Public since 1999. He is a member of the Board of Directors of several Honduran companies and of Consortium Centroamérica Abogados, a regional law firm formed by five of the top law firms from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and specializes in Corporate Law. As a Partner in his firm since 2000, he has been a contact attorney for several due diligence projects involving foreign banks, including a major finance operation by a Malaysian bank in the private agricultural sector, and for various local and multinational companies and institutions regarding mainly corporate and commercial law matters. He has also been the contact attorney for a diagnosis on the Honduran insolvency and creditors' rights legislation for the World Bank's Legal Department (Insolvency Group). He speaks Spanish and English and his practice areas also include Commercial Law, Insurance Law, Agency and Distributorship, Franchise Law, Trademarks, Patents, Copyright, Civil Litigation and Administrative Law. He and his wife and two children live in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
NICARAGUA
Chantal Chamorro
Project and Commercial Manager, Seguros América, Nicaragua. She holds 15 years of work experience in the fields of marketing, project development, public relations and customer service, budgeting and financial, investment and organizational management. Upon completing her bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Universidad Internacional de las Americas in Costa Rica, she spent four years working at INCAE Business School as International Marketing Assistant and National Marketing Director. She later obtained a graduate degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Marketing from INCAE Business School. She then joined Grupo DIDATSA MIL where she held different top executive positions. During the past five years, she has worked at Seguros América as General Management Assistant and Investment, Surety, Project and Commercial Manager. In Seguros América, she coordinates the company's social responsibility program, which focuses on children's education and health. Additionally, she belongs to the Planning Team of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of Grupo Pellas, one of the most important business groups in Central America.
Ernesto Fernández Lang
Director of Shared Services, Grupo Financiero Uno (GFU), San Salvador, El Salvador. GFU is a financial services conglomerate focused on consumer banking and is the leading credit card issuer in Central America. Ernesto is currently responsible for sales and marketing, customer service and the merchant acquiring business for the six countries in which GFU is active. During his six years with GFU he has been involved in multiple areas of the business such as new product development, remittances and COO of the Group's activities in El Salvador before taking on his recent position over a year ago. He began his career in London in the investment banking training program with Barclays Capital. After 3 years he joined an Internet startup in California that developed an online consumer-lending platform. He is also a Director of Fundacion Uno, a foundation focused on promoting educational excellence in the public school systems of Central America. Ernesto earned a BA in Economics with a Minor in Math from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School and the London School of Business.
Gian Marco Palazio
Entrepreneur, Managua, Nicaragua. Since the age of 21, Marco has created and currently directs over 7 companies in the fields of industrial and public safety, eco-tourism, alternative media, food and beverage, estate coffee, handicraft export, and real estate. AVANZ, S.A., Nicaragua's leading industrial safety supplier, has equipped more than 130 communities nationwide with the tools and equipment for first responders and the mitigation of natural disasters. Marco is a founding member of the Young Entrepreneurs Association (AJE), spurring the creation of Nicaragua's future entrepreneurial generation. He serves on the Board of Directors of Nicaragua's oldest private company, E. Palazio & Co. Ltd., established in 1878 as a 5th generation Italian, as well as serving on the board of a major BAC-Credomatic Financial Network holding company. He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1997, and has since completed multiple INCAE executive programs. He and his wife, Marcela, currently reside in Managua.
Maria Nelly Rivas
United Nations World Tourism Organization Central American Coordinator managing sustainable tourism projects that seek to contribute to the elimination of poverty. Former Partner at Crea Comunicaciones. Past Minister of Tourism of Nicaragua. As Minister, she was in charge of promoting, developing and expanding tourism in Nicaragua. Under her leadership, tourism became the top revenue generator for the country. Previously, Ms. Rivas was Associate Director of PRONicaragua, Nicaragua’s investment promotion agency. While at PRONicaragua, she worked closely with various government and private institutions in Nicaragua in efforts to draw foreign investment to the country. Before joining PRONicaragua, Ms. Rivas served as Senior Strategic Media Planner at multi-national advertising agency McCann-Erickson in New York City and Buenos Aires. While at McCann-Erickson, she managed accounts such as Coca-Cola and Starmedia. In New York, Ms. Rivas was responsible for overseeing the agency’s network in Latin America while managing quality standards and service for its international clientele. During her post in Buenos Aires, Ms. Rivas was responsible for more than USD$40 million in media investment. Ms. Rivas holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications Arts and Sciences from Queens College and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. She was born in Granada, Nicaragua and currently resides in Managua with her family.
PANAMA
Sabrina Bacal
News Director, Televisora Nacional, S.A. (TVN), Panama City, Panama. Sabrina has been head of the news department at TVN – channel 2 since July 2004, and in this role is responsible for establishing and producing the broadcasters editorial storyline during each of the four daily live newscasts. She directly manages a team of over 50, and has contributed to making TVN the most watched and most credible news source in Panama. Prior to TVN, she was Political Editor at "La Prensa" newspaper, which is widely recognized as Panama's most influential print news source. In this capacity, she participated on the panel of the televised presidential debates of 2004, representing the print media. At "La Prensa" Sabrina also published over 250 op-ed and political analysis articles. Sabrina has been an active member of "Friends of Yad Vashem" (Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jerusalem), the "Defensoría del Pueblo" (Ombudsman) as a member of the Citizen's Advisory Committee, in the National Council of Journalists and the Journalists Forum. Sabrina graduated from Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia with a degree in Political Science. She and her husband and two children currently live in Panama City.
Enrique Arturo de Obarrio
Obtained his Licentiate in Law and Political Science from Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua, in Panama, in 1986; a year later, did postgraduate studies in International and Common Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington, D.C. From 1990 to 1993, Mr. de Obarrio served his country in the Organization of American States as Ambassador, Alternate Representative. In 1998, Mr. established his own practice, the law firm of de Obarrio Carles & Associates, reincorporating himself to the same after having been instrumental in the development of banking regulation, strengthening and transparency of Panama’s International Banking Center, as General Counsel to Panama’s Superintendency of Banks, from October 2000 to March 2004. He is the current President of the United States - Panama Business Council, President of the Alianza Social Integral, and Founding Vice-president to the Organization of the Private Sector of the Americas. He was also President of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (APEDE), from 2004 to 2006, and Founding President of the National Centre for Competitiveness. Mr. de Obarrio was instrumental, among other accomplishments, in the elaboration and approval of the Law on Transparency, the elaboration and signing of the Panama Business Ethics Compact, the creation of the National Centre for Competitiveness; he was also key in the successful promotion of the “Yes” vote in the national referendum on the Panama Canal expansion project, and for prompting the social cohesion process towards a National Development Strategy for Panama. He is married, with three children.
Diego Eleta
Mr. Eleta is the President of the Panama Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, where he has served as director of the Communications Sector for six years, Treasurer and Vice President. During his time in the Chamber of Commerce, he has been actively involved in the negotiations to restructure the Social Security System, represented the private sector in discussions on various Tax Reform Laws, headed an IADB funded E-Commerce initiative, and took a leadership position in promoting the "SI" vote in the recent Referendum on the expansion of the Panama Canal, among other issues. Outside the Chamber, Mr. Eleta is Director of Operations of Cable Onda, S.A., Panama's leading Cable TV MSO where he has worked since 1997, spearheading Cable Onda's expansion into telecommunications, beginning with the development of Panama's first 100% fiber optic network, the creation of the first broadband communications network via Cable Modem and more recently, Cable Onda's foray into Long Distance and Fixed Telephony. Mr. Eleta was also a founding partner of one of Panama's first ISP's, and of INTERED, Panama's ISP association and Peering point, and a model for similar associations in the region. He is currently President of Electron Investments; a renewable energy company currently generating hydroelectric energy in Panama and with plans to develop over 80 MW over the next few years. Diego obtained his BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and his MBA from Columbia University where he also became member of the Beta Gamma Sigma National Honor Society.
Hildegard Vásquez
Ms. Vásquez has been head of the architecture office Hache Uve, which she created since 1998. Her office has concentrated mostly on preservation and renovation of historic sites such as San Felipe Historic District in Panama and the city of Granada, Nicaragua. Her office has worked in important restoration projects such as Panama's National Theater, Santo Domingo Convent and is currently working on a proposal for a Contemporary Arts Center in the transitional area of San Felipe and Chorrillo, an area which has suffered urban neglect and decay. She is head of Fundación Calicanto, a non for profit organization dedicated to the cultural, historic and human restoration of San Felipe, such projects include the re-socialization of local gangs, educational programs for single mothers, multiple cultural events and plans for the restoration of colonial churches. She has also been a member or the Inter Oceanic Canal Museum Board since its creation in 1997 and was part of the Contemporary Arts Museum Board from 2001 till 2005. Ms. Vásquez has a BA and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a Masters in Historic Restoration from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.