11th Sol M. Linowitz Forum
Dialogue Members
Bernard Aronson (United States) is a founder and managing partner of ACON Investments. In 2015, US President Barack Obama named him special envoy for the Colombian Peace Process. Aronson was also assistant secretary of state for Inter-American affairs during the Bush and Clinton administrations.
Roberto Baquerizo (Ecuador) is managing director of ProVentures, a New York-based consulting and investment firm. He previously served as governor of the Central Bank of Ecuador.
Alicia Bárcena (Mexico) is executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). She previously served as under-secretary-general for management for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and acting chef de cabinet for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Sergio Bitar (Chile) is president of Fundación por la Democracia and served as minster of public works under President Michelle Bachelet. He was previously minister of education, minister of mining, a senator, and president of the Party for Democracy (PPD) on two occasions. He is also a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue.
Lázaro Cárdenas Batel (Mexico) is a Mexican politician and member of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). From 2002 to 2008, he served as governor of Michoacán state. Cárdenas previously represented his home state in the federal Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and was a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from September 2008 to May 2009.
Miguel Castilla (Peru) served as ambassador of Peru to the United States from 2014-2016, minister of economy and finance under President Ollanta Humala from 2011-2014 and deputy minister of the treasury from 2010-2011. He also served as chief economist and corporate director of public policies and competitiveness for CAF – Development Bank of Latin America (2006-2009). He is currently a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Atlantic Council.
Joyce Chang (United States) is global head of research at JP Morgan Chase & Co. Previously, she served as global head of fixed income, emerging markets, and index research. Before joining JP Morgan, Chang was a managing director at Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers.
Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica) was president of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. She previously served as vice president and minister of justice under President Óscar Arias and was a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2006.
Eugenio Clariond (Mexico) is the chairman of Grupo Cuprum, S.A. de C.V., a manufacturer of aluminum products. He has also served as chief executive officer of Grupo IMSA, S.A., an industrial conglomerate specializing in steel, aluminum and plastic products, and was chairman from 2003 through 2006.
Arturo Condo (Ecuador) is the President of EARTH University, an innovative global university educating leaders for sustainable development, especially for rural areas of the world. He served as President of INCAE Business School between 2007 and 2015. Prior to that, he was Dean of the MBA, Dean of Innovation and Development and Director of the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS) at INCAE.
Lee Cullum (United States) is a journalist and currently hosts CEO, a series of interviews with leaders from the world of business, produced by PBS in Dallas-Fort Worth. She also regularly contributes columns to the Dallas Morning News.
Roberto Teixeira da Costa (Brazil) is a Brazilian businessman currently serving on the board of SulAmérica. He was previously a board member of Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDESPAR) and chairman of the Latin America Business Council. Costa founded the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and the Brazilian Center for International Relations.
José María Dagnino Pastore (Argentina) is an economist and former minister of economy and labor. He also served as head of the National Development Council and ambassador-at-large in Europe. He has been a teacher, professor, researcher, and advisor at various universities, including UNLP, the University of Buenos Aires, Harvard, and the Catholic University of Argentina.
Denise Damiani (Brazil) is a global technology executive and founder and CEO of Denise Damiani Consulting, a company specializing in strategy and finance consulting for family-owned businesses. Before that, she served as operations vice president with Itau Technology and was a partner at both Accenture and Bain & Co.
Karen DeYoung (United States) is associate editor and senior national security correspondent for The Washington Post. In her more than three decades at the Post, she has served as bureau chief for Latin America, foreign editor, bureau chief in London, national editor, White House correspondent, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor for national news.
Jorge I. Domínguez (United States) is the Antonio Madero professor for the Study of Mexico and chair of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies at Harvard University. He is the author of numerous works on international relations and domestics politics in Latin America and currently serves on the editorial boards of Political Science Quarterly, Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, Cuban Studies, Foro Internacional, and Journal of Cold War Studies.
Leonel Fernández (Dominican Republic) served two terms as president of the Dominican Republic, from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012. Since leaving office, Fernández has been honorary president of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, through which he has remained active in international affairs.
Enrique García (Bolivia) was president and CEO of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America until April 2017, when he stepped down after 25 years in that position. He served as minister of planning and coordination and head of the economic and social cabinet of Bolivia from 1989 and 1991. García was also an officer of the Inter-American Development Bank for 17 years.
Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica) is secretary general of the Ibero-America General Secretariat (SEGIB). She previously served as a UN under-secretary general and the associate administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Grynspan was vice president of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998.
Carla A. Hills (United States) served as US trade representative in the George H.W. Bush administration and as secretary of housing and urban development in the Ford administration. She is currently chair and CEO of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm.
Donna Hrinak (United States) was US ambassador to Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, and deputy assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs. She is currently president of Boeing Brazil and Boeing Latin America. Hrinak previously served as vice president for global public policy & government affairs at PepsiCo, Inc.
Enrique V. Iglesias (Uruguay) is former secretary general of the Ibero-american General Secretariat (SEGIB) in Madrid. Previously, he served as president of the Inter-American Development Bank for 17 years. Before that, he was foreign minister of Uruguay from 1985 to 1988 and executive secretary of UNECLAC from 1972 to 1985.
Earl Jarrett (Jamaica) is chief executive officer of The Jamaica National Group and a member of the Board of all the local and overseas subsidiaries of the Group. Jarrett is also chairman of the JN Foundation, Jamaica Automobile Association, JN Cayman and the overseas subsidiary companies of JN Money Services; as well as chairman of the Jamaica Cancer Society, Jamaican Diaspora Foundation and Mona Geoinformatics Institute.
Jim Kolbe (United States) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-AZ) from 1985 to 2007. While in Congress, he served for six years on the House Budget Committee and for 20 years on the Appropriations Committee. He is now a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund and senior advisor to McLarty Associates.
Abraham F. Lowenthal (United States) is professor emeritus of international relations at the University of Southern California, president emeritus of the Pacific Council on International Policy, adjunct professor of international studies at Brown University’s Watson Institute, and a nonresident senior fellow with the Latin America Initiative in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings Institution. Lowenthal was a founding director of the Inter-American Dialogue and of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin America Program.
Nora Lustig (Mexico) is the Samuel Z. Stone professor of Latin American economics at Tulane University, nonresident fellow of the Center for Global Development, and nonresident senior fellow at the Dialogue, where she directs the Commitment to Equity Project. Lustig was previously president of Universidad de las Americas, Puebla and of the Latin American and Caribbean Economics Association.
Theodore Cardinal McCarrick (United States) is archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, a position he held as cardinal from 2001 to 2006. Previously, he was president of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico and archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. Cardinal McCarrick has served as chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committees on Domestic Policy, International Policy, Migration, and Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.
Barbara McDougall (Canada) was Canadian secretary of state for external affairs, minister of state (finance), minister of privatization, and minister of employment and immigration. She was also chairwoman of the International Development Research Centre and is an advisor to Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis.
Peter McPherson (United States) is president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and president emeritus of Michigan State University. He is a founding co-chair of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa. McPherson was previously deputy secretary of the US Treasury Department, administrator of USAID, and chair of the Board of Directors of Dow Jones and Company.
Paula Moreno (Colombia) is former minister of culture of Colombia. She is the youngest woman and first Afrodescendant to be appointed as a cabinet minister in the country’s history. She founded and now serves as president of Manos Visibles, an NGO that implements development strategies to strengthen urban youth organizations and communities of women.
Mia Amor Mottley (Barbados) leads the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and has been leader of the opposition since 2013. She is a member of parliament and previously served as minister of economic affairs and development, deputy prime minister, and several other ministerial portfolios, including as the first female minister of home affairs in Barbados.
Salvador Paiz (Guatemala) is president of the Fundación Sergio Paiz Andrade (FunSEPA), a foundation dedicated to improving the quality of education in Guatemala through technology. He is also vice president of the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA) and co-chairman of Grupo PDC.
Pierre Pettigrew (Canada) served as Canada’s minister of foreign affairs from 2004 to 2006 and as minister for international trade from 1999 to 2003. He chaired several working groups on international trade negotiations and led trade missions to China, India, Russia, Germany, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, and elsewhere. Pettigrew is currently executive advisor at Deloitte & Touche.
Marta Lucía Ramírez (Colombia) served as Colombia’s minister of defense, minister of foreign trade, and ambassador to France under President Alvaro Uribe. She has also served as a senator and was a presidential candidate in May 2010. Ramírez is now a private consultant in international strategy and defense matters.
Julissa Reynoso (United States) was the ambassador of the United States to Uruguay from 2012 to 2014, and is currently a partner at law firm Chadbourne & Parke LLP in New York. A native of the Dominican Republic, Reynoso immigrated to the United States in 1982. During her tenure at the US Department of State, she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Central American, Caribbean and Cuban Affairs.
Timothy Scully (United States) is a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and director of the university’s Institute for Educational Initiative. His other academic appointments have included executive vice president of Notre Dame, as well as vice president and senior associate provost.
Maria Fernanda Teixeira (Brazil) is a Brazilian businesswoman with over thirty years of experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, she was president of First Data Brazil and chief operating officer of First Data Latin America. She is the founding president of the Group of Executive Women of São Paulo, with over 300 members. She also serves on the World Bank’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development.
Roberto Veiga (Cuba) is a lawyer and former magazine editor. In May 2014, Veiga and his coleague Lenier González founded Cuba Posible, a civil society project and platform for political dialogue and analysis in Cuba, where Veiga currently serves as director.
Invited Guests
Luis Almagro was elected secretary general of the Organization of American States in 2015. A career diplomat, Almagro served as foreign minister of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 and has extensive international and regional experience.
Sergio Amaral is ambassador of Brazil to the United States. Prior to this, he was chairman of the Brazil-China Business Council from 2009-2015. He has served in the Brazilian government as minister of development, industry, and foreign trade; secretary of social communication, and chairman of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) under President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
Guillermo Areas is the head of government and external affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean for BMW Group. Previously, he has worked as country manager for DHL in Bolivia and Nicaragua. Early in his career, he served as a diplomat in Washington, DC with the government of President Violeta Chamorro of Nicaragua.
Inés Bustillo is the director of the Washington office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). She joined ECLAC in 1989 as an economic affairs officer. Previously, she was a professor of economics at Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City and a visiting faculty member at American University.
Brian Butcher is the senior government relations adviser in Washington, DC for Shell business interest in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to this, he served as the Latin America regulatory policy lead for Shell, where he monitored the regulatory environment and led advocacy efforts to support Shell business units. He previously served as the director of Americas Studies at the US Army War College and a senior defense official at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Paula Caballero is global director, Climate Program of the World Resources Institute. Before joining WRI in August 2016, Paula was the senior director of the Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice of the World Bank Group.
Juan O. Cruz is the NSC Senior Director for Western Hemisphere and joins the NSC from the Department of State where he held several positions, most recently serving in Western Hemisphere Affairs. He has over 30 years of experience leading teams to support and execute U.S. foreign policy and shaping national security primarily in Latin America.
Jared Cutright joined ConocoPhillips in January 2016 as manager, international government affairs and political risk in Washington, DC. Before joining ConocoPhillips, Jared spent 11 years with the US intelligence community including serving as director, congressional and intergovernmental affairs for naval intelligence programs.
Augusto de la Torre served as chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank Group from 2007 to 2017. Previously, he was a senior advisor responsible for financial matters in Latin America and the Caribbean. He now works internationally as a free-lance senior consultant and teaches at Columbia University. Prior to his World Bank career, he served as the governor of the Central Bank of Ecuador (1993-1996) and as a senior economist for the International Monetary Fund (1986-1992).
Chris Dolan is a project finance attorney with DLA Piper LLP specializing in the energy and infrastructure spaces, with a particular focus on Latin America and Africa.
David Dollar is a senior fellow in the John L. Thorton China Center at The Brookings Institution focusing on the Chinese economy and China’s relations with the rest of the world. Prior to joining Brookings in 2013 he spent nine years in Beijing, the first five heading the World Bank program and the second four representing the US Treasury
Jonathan Elkind is a fellow and adjunct senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. From 2009 to 2014, he worked on international energy and climate issues at the US Department of Energy, serving ultimately as assistant secretary for International Affairs. Before that, he created and led Eastlink Consulting, LLC focusing on commercial energy projects in Europe and Eurasia, and also as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Ramón Espinasa is the lead oil and gas specialist at the Energy Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). For twenty years, from 1979 to 1999, he worked at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) where he was chief economist between 1992 and 1999.
Daniel W. Fisk is the chief operations officer of the International Republican Institute. He first joined the institute in 2009 to coordinate governance programs and from 2010 to 2014 served as vice president for policy and strategic planning. Fisk also served as the director of the economic growth initiative at the George W. Bush Institute. Fisk has held a number of positions in the US government, including as special assitant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs on the National Security Council from 2005-2009.
José Gonzales is a managing partner of ECG Asset Management, a financial consulting firm specializing in global markets. He is also a managing partner of GCG Advisors, a firm specializing in corporate finance in New York and Venezuela. He has served in senior financial capacities at LW Asset Management, Credit Lyonnais, ING-Barings, and Econoinvest. From 2001 to 2005, Gonzáles chaired the Advisory Board at the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University and is a founder of the university’s Greater Caribbean Studies Center.
Luis Alberto Moreno is president of the Inter-American Development Bank. As president of the Bank, Moreno also chairs the Board of Executive Directors of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) and the donor’s committee of the Multilateral Investment Funk (MIF). Prior to joining the Bank, Moreno served as Colombia’s ambassador to the United States for seven years.
María del Pilar Pilgram is the representative of the Mexican Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) for the East Coast at the Mexican Consulate in New York. Previously she served as the regional coordinator for the Papaloapan Basin in the State of Oaxaca for SEDESOL. She has also worked as an advisor to the Secretary of Finance of the State of Oaxaca.
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is a Bolivian politician and businessman, who served as President of Bolivia for two non-consecutive terms (1993-1997 and 2002-2003). He is a lifelong member of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR). As Minister of Planning in the government of President Víctor Paz Estenssoro.
Andrew Selee is president of the Migration Policy Institute. Prior to this, Selee served as vice president for programs of the Woodrow Wilson Center and is the founding director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute. He is an adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University and of international affairs at George Washington University and has been a visiting professor at El Colegio de Mexico.
Matias Spektor is an associate professor of international relations at the Fundação Getulio Vargas. Spektor has written several books dissecting Brazil foreign policy with a focus on the history of US-Brazilian diplomatic relations.
Juan Gabriel Valdés is ambassador of Chile to the United States. He previously served as the ambassador of Chile to Argentina (2003), ambassador of Chile to the United Nations (2000-2003), minister of foreign affairs (1999), and ambassador of Chile to Spain (1990-1994), among other positions.
Zhang Jing Jing is an environmental lawyer who has represented pollution victims and helped communities organize public hearings on environmental rights in China. Currently, she is an Open Society Follow and a visiting scholar at Environmental Law Institute based in Washington DC, working on monitoring Chinese companies’ environmental performances overseas, and using legal test cases to ensure Chinese overseas companies’ compliance with environmental laws and international human rights standards.