13th Sol M. Linowitz Forum
Dialogue Members from Latin America, the Caribbean & Europe
Sebastián Acha (Paraguay) is the president of the World Compliance Association, founding partner of Notable and executive director of PRO Desarrollo Paraguay, an association working to improve the country’s business climate. He was previously a representative in the Congress of Paraguay and founded Tierra Nueva, a rural development nonprofit.
Tabata Amaral (Brazil) is a Brazilian politician and education activist. She is currently a federal deputy for the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) representing the state of São Paulo. She co-founded the Vontade de Aprender Olímpica, which prepares Brazilian students to compete in international olympiads, and Movimento Mapa Educação, which promotes education equality in Brazil.
Nicolás Ardito-Barletta (Panama) served as president of Panama from 1984 to 1985. Before that, he was Panama’s minister of economic policy and World Bank vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. He was general administrator of the Interoceanic Region Authority (ARI) from 1995 to 2000. He is an emeritus member of the Dialogue.
Sergio Bitar (Chile) is president of El Consejo Chileno de Prospectiva y Estrategia and president of Fundación por la Democracia. He served as minster of public works under President Michelle Bachelet during her first term. He was previously minister of education, minister of mining, a senator, and president of the Party for Democracy (PPD). Bitar is a nonresident senior fellow of the Dialogue.
Catalina Botero (Colombia) is an attorney who previously served as dean of the Facultad de Derecho at La Universidad de los Andes and special rapporteur for freedom of expression for the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She is currently co-chair of the Facebook Oversight Board and founding partner of the nonprofit DeJusticia Colombia, focused on the regional defense of human rights.
Julieta Castellanos (Honduras) is a sociologist and activist. She was rector of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) from 2009 to 2017, and served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The US State Department awarded Castellanos the International Women of Courage Award.
Luis Miguel Castilla (Peru) is former manager of the Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness at the Inter-American Development Bank. He served as ambassador to the United States, minister of economy and finance under president Ollanta Humala, and deputy minister of the treasury. He also served as chief economist for CAF – Development Bank of Latin America.
Fernando Cepeda (Colombia) is a political scientist and diplomat. He has served as minister of government, chargé d’affaires of the Colombian delegation to the United States, ambassador to the United Kingdom, France, and Canada, and permanent representative to the United Nations and the Organization of American States. Cepeda was also a political science professor at La Universidad de los Andes, where he served as provost.
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. She is also president of the Advisory Council of She Works, vice president of the Club of Madrid, and a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Arturo Condo (Ecuador) is president of EARTH University in Costa Rica. He was a professor of business strategy and international business at INCAE Business School, where he also served as president from 2007 to 2015. He is a founding member of the Central American Private Sector Initiative (CAPSI).
Mariana Costa (Peru) is the co-founder and CEO at Laboratoria, a social enterprise that enables women from underserved backgrounds to start and grow a career in technology. She was named one of Peru’s leading innovators by MIT and one the world’s most influential women by BBC.
José María Dagnino Pastore (Argentina) has served as minister of finance, minister of economy and labor, head of the National Development Council, and ambassador-at-large in Europe. He has taught at various universities, including UNLP, the University of Buenos Aires, Harvard University, 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.
Monica de Bolle (Brazil) is senior fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and adjunct lecturer at the Latin American Studies Program, Johns Hopkins SAIS. De Bolle was professor of macroeconomics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and managing partner of Galanto MBB Consultants, a macroeconomics advisory firm. She was also an economist at the International Monetary Fund.
Sylvia Escovar (Colombia) is the former president of Organización Terpel. Before assuming this position, she was vice president of Corporate Group. Previously, she worked in the public sector, holding various positions including financial vice president of Grupo Bancolombia, main economist for the Colombian Resident Mission of the World Bank, and head of the External Credit Division in the National Planning Department.
Lourdes Flores Nano (Peru) served as a member of Congress in Peru from 1990 to 2000 and was a candidate for president in 2001 and 2006. Previously, she led the Popular Christian Party and the National Unity Alliance and served as president of San Ignacio de Loyola University. She is currently the vice president of the Centrist Democrat International.
Alejandro Foxley (Chile) served as foreign minister of Chile under President Michelle Bachelet, as minister of finance under President Patricio Aylwin, and as a senator. He is founding president of Corporación de Estudios para Latinoamérica (CIEPLAN) in Santiago.
Julio Frenk (Mexico) is a Mexican physician and scholar currently serving as president of the University of Miami. Prior to assuming his current position, Frenk was dean of faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and, before that, minister of health of Mexico under President Vicente Fox. Luiz Fernando Furlan (Brazil) is president of Brasil Foods and honorary advisor of the Foundation of Amazon Sustainability. He served as minister of development, industry, and foreign trade of Brazil.
L. Enrique García (Bolivia) was president and CEO of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, a position he held for 25 years. Before that, he served as minister of planning and coordination and head of the economic and social cabinet of Bolivia. García was also an officer of the Inter-American Development Bank for 17 years.
Diego García-Sayán (Peru) is special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers for the UN Office of the High Commissioner. He was president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and director general of the Andean Commission of Jurists. Before that, he was a congressman, minister of justice, and minister of foreign affairs of Peru. García-Sayán is also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague and professor of law at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
Carolina Goic (Chile) is a Chilean senator and former president of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). She previously served as national deputy for Magallanes and as regional director for the National Women’s Service (SERNAM). In March 2017, Goic was presidential candidate of the PDC for the Chilean general election.
George Gray Molina (Bolivia) was chief economist of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He was coordinator of the Bolivian Human Development Report Office and lead author for four National Human Development reports between 2004 and 2008. He is currently head of strategic policy engagement for the UNDP Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.
Gustavo Grobocopatel (Argentina) is an agricultural engineer and businessman. He is former CEO and president of Grupo Los Grobo, a leading agribusiness and investment company operating in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. He is a board member of Asociación Empresaria Argentina (AEA) and Endeavor Argentina, and president of the Agribusiness Chapter of LIDE Argentina.
Earl Jarrett (Jamaica) was appointed chief executive officer of the restructured mutual holding company, The Jamaica National Group, and chairman of the Electoral Office of Jamaica. He is also chairman of the JN Foundation and former deputy chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Jamaica Investments Promotions. He was a former Council Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica and past president of the Rotary Club of New Kingston.
Trinidad Jiménez (Spain) is the director for public affairs and global strategy at Telefónica, S.A. (Spain). A member of the Socialist Workers’ Party, she served as a member of Parliament, minister of foreign affairs, minister of health and social affairs, and secretary of state for Latin America in the Government of Spain.
Yolanda Kakabadse (Ecuador) was president of the World Wildlife Fund from 2010 to 2017, and previously served as Ecuador’s minister of the environment. In 1993, she founded Fundación Futuro Latinoamericana and served as the foundation’s executive president until 2006. Before that, she founded Fundación Natura in Quito and served as its executive director.
Jacky Lumarque (Haiti) is the rector of the Université Quisqueya. He previously served as the president of the Regional Conference of Rectors, Presidents and Directors of Universities in the Caribbean (CORPUCA) from 2012 to 2019. Under the administration of President René Préval, Lumarque coordinated the working group on education and training (GTEF).
Nora Lustig (Mexico) is Samuel Z. Stone professor of Latin American economics at Tulane University, nonresident fellow of the Center for Global Development, and nonresident senior fellow of 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.
Helio Magalhães (Brazil) served as COO of Citibank Brazil from 2012 to 2017. Prior to that, he spent 11 years at American Express as the head of Global Network Services for the Americas, country manager of American Express Mexico, and president of American Express Brazil. Magalhães held several leadership positions at Citibank in operations, technology, product, and marketing.
Susana Malcorra (Argentina) is dean of the IE School of Global and Public Affairs. She served as foreign minister of Argentina and acted as special advisor to former President Macri. Malcorra also served as UN under-secretary-general for field support, and as chief operating officer and deputy executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP). Before that, Malcorra had more than 25 years of experience in the private sector.
Paula Moreno (Colombia) is former minister of culture of Colombia. She is the youngest woman and first Afrodescendant to be appointed a cabinet minister in the country’s history. She is founding president of Manos Visibles, an NGO that implements development strategies to strengthen urban youth organizations and communities of women.
Moisés Naím (Venezuela) is distinguished fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and chief international columnist for El País and La República. He is also host and producer of “Efecto Naím,” a weekly television program on international affairs that airs throughout the Americas. From 1996 to 2010, he was editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy. Naím previously served as Venezuela’s minister of trade and industry, director of Venezuela’s Central Bank, and executive director of the World Bank.
Salvador Paiz (Guatemala) is chairman of Grupo PDC, a holding company with interests in distribution and real estate finance. He is also president of the Fundación Sergio Paiz Andrade (FunSEPA), a foundation dedicated to improving the quality of education in Guatemala through technology, and director of the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA).
Beatriz Paredes (Mexico) is a member of the Mexican Senate. She was the Mexican ambassador to Brazil and to Cuba. Previously, she was president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party of Mexico (PRI), governor of Tlaxcala, senator, and member of Congress.
Pierre Pettigrew (Canada) served as Canada’s minister of foreign affairs and as minister for international trade. He chaired several working groups on international trade negotiations and led trade missions to China, India, Russia, Germany, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, and Mexico. Pettigrew is currently chair of the Board of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and executive advisor, international, at Deloitte Canada.
Jacqueline Pitanguy (Brazil) is founding executive director of CEPIA, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting human and civil rights in Brazil. She is also president of the Governing Council of the Brazil Fund for Human Rights. From 1986 to 1989, Pitanguy held a cabinet position as president of the National Council for Women’s Rights (CNDM).
Alfonso Prat-Gay (Argentina) was minister of economy and finance of Argentina and a member of the Argentine National Congress for the city of Buenos Aires. He previously served as president of Fundación Políticas de Gobierno and as president of the Central Bank of Argentina. He is founding chair of Tilton Capital and president of Andares, a microfinance NGO.
Jorge F. Quiroga (Bolivia) was president of Bolivia and previously served as vice president, minister of finance, and vice minister of international cooperation and public investment. He has held several private sector positions in Bolivia and the United States and is the current president of FUNDEMOS, a public policy institute in La Paz. He was a candidate for the 2020 presidential elections in Bolivia.
María Luisa Romero (Panama) is an elected independent expert for the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture for the 2019-2022 term. She served as minister of government, where she oversaw issues related to justice, civil protection, refugees and indigenous peoples. She was an attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica.
Andrés Rozental (Mexico) is president of Rozental & Asociados, a consulting firm in Mexico City. He was founding president of the Mexican Council for International Relations and served as deputy foreign minister, Mexico’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and to Sweden, and permanent representative of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva.
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Bolivia) is a Bolivian politician and businessman, who served as the 61st President of Bolivia for two nonconsecutive terms from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. Arturo Sarukhan (Mexico) was ambassador of Mexico to the United States from 2007 to 2013. He has also served as Mexico’s consul general in New York, chief of policy planning in the Foreign Ministry, and deputy assistant secretary for inter-American affairs. He is founder and president of Sarukhan + Associates, a strategic consulting firm, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Luis Guillermo Solis (Costa Rica) was president of Costa Rica from 2014 to 2018. Solís has a long academic and political career, culminating in his election as the first president of Costa Rica to be a member of the Citizens Action Party (PAC). He is the interim director of Florida International University’s Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center. Solís is also an educator and has published numerous essays and books.
Matias Spektor (Brazil) is an author, associate professor, associate dean, and co-founder of Fundação Getulio Vargas’s School of International Relations. He was a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2013, he was Rio Branco Chair in International Relations at King’s College London.
Eduardo Stein (Guatemala) served as vice president of Guatemala under President Oscar Berger and as foreign minister under President Alvaro Arzú. He has held positions in the International Organization for Migration, United Nations Development Program, and Organization of American States. UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Stein as special representative for Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees.
María Fernanda Teixeira (Brazil) has 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 chief executive officer of Integrow Beyond Numbers and founding president of the Group of Executive Women of São Paulo. She served on the World Bank’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development.
Roberto Teixeira da Costa (Brazil) served as chairman of the Latin America Business Council and on the board of SulAmérica and Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, and he founded the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and the Brazilian Center for International Relations. Juan
Manuel Urtubey (Argentina) is governor of the province of Salta in Argentina, recently reelected to a third term. Before assuming his current position, he served for two terms in the Argentine National Congress. He ran for vice president in 2019.
Maria Priscila Vansetti (Brazil) is director of global strategy and business development at Corteva Agriscience. She previously served as president of DuPont Brasil, where she began her career in 1981, assuming leadership positions in the areas of regulation, government relations, and research & development.
Roberto Veiga González (Cuba) is a lawyer and former magazine editor. In May 2014, Veiga and his professional partner Lenier González founded Cuba Posible, a civil society organization and platform for political dialogue and analysis in Cuba. He served as director of the organization until 2019.
Joaquín Villalobos (El Salvador) is a former guerrilla leader of the FMLN of El Salvador and played a central role in the negotiations to end his country’s civil war. An authority on security and conflict resolution, he is now a consultant with Conciliation Resources and a visiting scholar at St. Antony’s College of Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Alberto Vollmer (Venezuela) is chairman and CEO of Ron Santa Teresa, C.A., based in Venezuela. He is also founder of Project Alcatraz, a rehabilitation and reinsertion program for gang members. Vollmer sits the boards of several organizations, including the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce.
Dialogue Members from the United States
Bernard Aronson is founder and managing partner of ACON Investments. In 2015, US President Barack Obama named him special envoy for the Colombian Peace Process. Aronson served as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs during the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.
Michael Barnes was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-MD) from 1979 to 1987 and chaired the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He was a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. Barnes also served on the Kissinger Commission on Central America, appointed by US President Ronald Reagan.
Oscar Chacón is co-founder and executive director of Alianza Americas, an umbrella of immigrant-led and immigrant-serving organizations in the United States. Before that, he served in leadership positions at the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and several other community-based organizations.
Joyce Chang 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.
Lee Cullum is a prominent 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. She is a senior fellow of the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University and a fellow at the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture.
David de Ferranti is co-founder, senior advisor, and chair of Results for Development. Previously, he was the regional vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. De Ferranti also headed the World Bank’s work on social sectors, including overseeing research, policy work, and financial operations for countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Helene Gayle is CEO of The Chicago Community Trust. She previously served as president and CEO of McKinsey Social Initiative and of the humanitarian organization CARE from 2006 to 2015. Gayle also served as chair of the Obama administration’s presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
Carla A. Hills served as US trade representative in the George H.W. Bush administration and as secretary of housing and urban development in the Gerald Ford administration. She is currently chair and chief executive officer of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm.
Donna J. Hrinak was US ambassador to Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, and served as deputy assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs. She is currently vice president of corporate affairs of Royal Caribbean Group. Previously, she served as president of Boeing Brazil, Boeing Latin America, and Boeing Canada and held executive positions at Pepsico, Inc. and Kraft Foods.
William J. Hybl is executive chairman of El Pomar Foundation. He also served as US representative to the 56th General Assembly of the United Nations and is vice chairman of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Hybl is president emeritus of the United States Olympic Committee and served as a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Jim Kolbe 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, a senior advisor at McLarty Associates and president of JTKConsulting.
Abraham F. Lowenthal 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 of Brookings Institution. Lowenthal is founding director of the Dialogue and of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin America Program.
Doris Meissner was commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1993 to 2000 and has held several positions at the Department of Justice related to immigration policy. She is currently a senior fellow of the Migration Policy Institute.
Amna Nawaz is a senior national correspondent and primary substitute anchor for PBS NewsHour. Prior to joining PBS in April 2018, she was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News and NBC News. She has received a number of awards, including an Emmy Award and a Society for Features Journalism award.
Shannon O’Neil is vice president, deputy director of studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an expert on Latin America, US-Mexico relations, global trade, corruption, democracy and immigration.
Francis Rooney was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-FL). He was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as US ambassador to the Holy See. He is former CEO of Rooney Holdings Inc., a diversified group of investment, real estate, and construction companies. Timothy R. Scully is 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.
Donna E. Shalala was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-FL). Previously, she served as president and CEO of the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Before that, she was president of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2015 and served as US secretary of health and human services from 1993 to 2001.
Thomas A. Shannon, Jr. spent over 30 years in the foreign service, most recently as under-secretary of state for political affairs and as US ambassador to Brazil. He previously served as counselor and senior advisor to the secretary of state, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and as special assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council. He is now a senior advisor for Arnold & Porter.
Paula Stern served from 1978 to 1987 at the US International Trade Commission, where she was commissioner and chair. She is now founding chair and president of the Stern Group, a Washington-based international trade and economic consulting firm, and senior advisor of the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT).
Outside Guests
Raquel Artecona is the officer in charge at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Washington Office. Her research focuses on trade, investment, and regional integration, and recent projects include the role of multilateral development institutions on supporting development in Latin America and the Caribbean, trade in pharmaceutical products, and technical standards and US market access. Before joining ECLAC in 2008, she was an economic analyst at the World Bank.
Daniel P. Erikson is the deputy assistant secretary of defense (DASD) for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He was previously managing director at Blue Star Strategies, LLC, where he led the firm’s Latin America practice representing US corporations across Latin America and the Caribbean and Latin American businesses with interests in the United States. He was also a senior fellow at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
Beatriz Londoño is an independent consultant who has served as secretary of health of Bogota, director general of the National Institute of Family Wellbeing, vice minister and minister of Health and Social Protection, ambassador of Colombia to Switzerland and permanent representative of her country before the United Nations in Geneva. Londoño participated in the design of the first safety nets formally developed in Colombia while she was in the National Department of Planning.
Ana Salas Siegel serves as senior vice president and general counsel for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and oversees all legal resources, including the division’s business and legal affairs team. Previously, she worked at Fox Latin America Channels for 12 years, most recently serving as senior vice president and general counsel, business and legal affairs. Prior to this role, she served for four years as the director of business and legal affairs at Universal Studios Networks Latin America Inc.
Ricardo Zúñiga is the special envoy for the Northern Triangle. He was the interim director of the Brazil Institute and a senior diplomatic fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center Latin America Program. Previous assignments include a tour as the director of the International Student Management Office at the National Defense University, service as US Consul General in Sao Paulo, Brazil, special assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, and political counselor at the US Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil. Zúñiga also worked in the State Department’s Office of Cuban Affairs, the US Mission to the Organization of American States, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and as the desk officer for Uganda and Tanzania.