CENTRAL AMERICA LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE
FIRST REGIONAL MEETING
March 30-31, 2009
Managua, Nicaragua
InterContinental Real Metrocentro Managua

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear CALI Family:

We had a great meeting in Managua, where representatives of all 4 classes of CALI Fellows (45 Fellows), as well as solid group of Founders (approximately 20 Founders) met for the first time all together for a 1 day event in Managua, Nicaragua.

At the welcoming lunch, Peter Reiling, Chairman of our Board and EVP of The Aspen Institute, shared the purpose of the event, and updated the participants on how this event fits in with the other Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) activities.

The reunion started with a quick overview and validation in breakout groups of different perceptions of the current economic and social situation in Central America, followed by an interesting panel by Founders Stanley Motta, Harry Strachan, Ricardo Poma, Carlos Denton and Nicolas Ardito Barletta, who shared their lessons learned from the crisis of the 1980’s.

At night, we went to dinner at historic Granada, where Fellows and Founders found the opportunity to get to know each other better.  After dinner, Peter Reling moderated a dialogue among Fellows on Leading during Economic Crisis.  The Fellows that participated in this dialogue were: Aline Flores (CALI 1 Honduras), Gian Marco Palazio (CALI 2 Nicaragua), Gisela Porras (CALI 3 Panama) and Maralu Vega de Torres (CALI 4 EL Salvador).

The next day started with a productive Founder’s Breakfast.  Participants included: Stanley Motta, Juan Luis Bosch, Ricardo Poma, Harry Strachan, Mayu Brizuela, Nicolas Ardito Barletta, Fabricio Altamirano, Bill Clapp, Peter Reiling, Stace Lindsay, Arturo Condo, Mauricio Vivero, David Williams, Joe Fidanque, and Ricardo Teran. Founder’s reiterated their interest in continuing CALI classes 6-10, for which a need of $2.5 million must be fundraised. Founders stressed the importance of expanding the donor base and creating a Founders’ Circle to include all donors that  were interested in giving funds and time to CALI. Furthermore, Founders agreed that periodical meetings within each country among Founders and Fellows to discuss current matters was important, as well as an annual event to convene all members of the CALI network.

The meeting continued with Fellow’s impressions of CALI. Yara Argueta (CALI 3 Guatemala), Mercedes Deshon (CALI 3 Nicaragua), Alekcey Murillo (CALI 3 Costa Rica), Carmen Irene Alas (CALI 2 El Salvador), Hildegard Vasquez (CALI 2 Panama), Ricardo Cohen (CALI 1  El Salvador), Ricardo Teran (CALI 1 Nicaragua) and Diego De Sola (CALI 1 El Salvador) shared the impacts CALi had had in their lives and what they were doing about it.

Following, each of our founding institutions present (Aspen Institute, INCAE and TechnoServe) shared their perspectives on how their institutions view our current situation and what they are doing about it.

Then, Stace Lindsay walked us through the results of the previous day’s breakout groups, of which 7 topics clearly emerged: business, environment, democracy, health, violence, leadership and education. The participants then separated into discussion tables in these topics. Further follow up within this network and with the AGLN needs to occur.

Finally, Founders Stanley Motta and Juan Luis Bosch reported back on the Founders Breakfast, conclusion were well received, and Harry Strachan set the stage for our group “check out”, where anyone who wished to express any concluding remarks was welcome to do so.  Many Fellows and Founders contributed their insights, and Peter Reiling made the closing remarks.

I wish to thank all of our Founders and Fellows that accompanied us in this first regional event, and hope many more join us for the next!

Best regards,

Mirei Endara de Heras
Executive Director
CALI Foundation

Click here to view the CALI Regional Meeting Agenda.

Click here to view photos from the CALI Regional Meeting. 

Click here to view Stace Lindsay's "CALI Breakout Group Feedback" presentation at Regional Meeting.