Council of the Americas Announces First Group of Honorees of the 22nd BRAVO Business Awards

Now organized by COA, the annual event and preceding one-day Symposium recognize excellence and leadership in business, policy, and social development in the Americas.

Miami, July 13, 2016—Council of the Americas (COA) is pleased to announce the first group of honorees who will be recognized at the 22nd BRAVO Business Awards on October 28 in Miami: Mexico’s Secretary of Social Development José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, the President of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company Ali Moshiri, the President of the Humanitas360 Institute Patricia Villela Marino, and the President of Miami Dade College Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón. They will be among the regional leaders honored at a gala awards ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami, which will mark the first time the Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards are hosted by COA since the franchise’s incorporation into Americas Society/Council of the Americas’ (AS/COA) portfolio of programmatic offerings in January 2016.

“This first group of honorees includes an outstanding selection of leaders representing diverse geographies—Mexico, Brazil, and the United States—and an impressive spectrum of accomplishments,” said AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal. “The Council of the Americas BRAVO Awards are an unparalleled opportunity for us to recognize excellence and leadership throughout the Americas and reaffirm, at the same time, our commitment to Miami and its community.”

José Antonio Meade Kuribreña will be honored with the Innovative Leader of the Year Award for his role bringing together the public and private sectors, along with civil society, to develop programs and policies that have positively impacted the lives of Mexican citizens. With a distinguished career as a public servant, including pivotal roles as Secretary of Energy, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Public Credit, and most recently Social Development, Meade’s dedication to improving the lives of millions in Mexico has been a shining example of leadership and progress within the Americas. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Social Development has engaged in unprecedented collaboration schemes with the private sector, including a five-year collaboration agreement with Banamex and cooperation instruments with 15 entrepreneurial chambers comprising over 700,000 business units.

Ali Moshiri will be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his illustrious career with Chevron, spanning four decades, throughout which he has had a major impact on the global oil and gas industry. As President of Chevron’s Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company, Moshiri has developed strong ties in both regions, often under challenging economic and regulatory environments, and demonstrated a remarkable ability to negotiate with governments and with the private sector. Recent landmark achievements in the Americas have included Chevron’s partnership with YPF in Argentina, facilitating the exploration of shale oil in the Vaca Muerta region, which holds the world’s second-largest shale reserves, as well as Chevron’s collaboration with Ecopetrol to explore natural gas in Colombia, which has supplied more than half of the natural gas demand in Colombia. Mr. Moshiri’s leadership was also pivotal during Venezuela’s oil contract renegotiation, which allowed Chevron to remain a partner with the country recognized as having the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Patricia Villela Marino will be bestowed with the Humanitarian of the Year Award for her contributions promoting citizen empowerment as a mechanism to strengthen governance and democratic processes. Through the work of the Humanitas360 Institute, an innovative regional think do-tank, and the Brazil-based PDR Institute she co-founded, Villela has spearheaded diverse initiatives to increase access to equal opportunities through civic social entrepreneurship, and has raised debates on several key and urgent issues in the Americas, such as prison reform and drug policy reform. Among several initiatives on drug policy, the Latin American Platform on Drug Policy launched in 2012, under the aegis of Former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and César Gaviria of Colombia, promoted an informative, evidence-base, balanced debate on drug policies throughout the region, supporting citizens in driving new approaches in particular on medical cannabinoids.

Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón will be presented with the inaugural Civic Leader of the Year Award in recognition of his dynamic leadership as president of Miami Dade College (MDC), transforming the institution into a center of academic excellence for students of all backgrounds and financial means. Under Padrón’s leadership, MDC has earned a spot as the largest campus-based institution of higher education and the most diverse college in America —graduating more African Americans and Hispanics than any other college in the nation. Hispanic student enrollment alone has increased 57 percent in the last 20 years. Notably, MDC is also one of the first colleges to award scholarships to underprivileged undocumented students. Furthermore, the MDC Honors College, founded during Padrón’s tenure as President of MDC, has led the brightest students to benefit from comprehensive scholarship opportunities and graduate from top universities, including Ivy League Institutions. President Padrón is widely recognized as one of the top education leaders in the world and his pace-setting work at Miami Dade College has been hailed as a model of innovation in higher education.

“We are very excited about this first group of honorees and look forward to sharing the names of the remaining Council of the Americas 22nd BRAVO Business Awards recipients later this year,” said Maria Lourdes Gallo, senior director for the BRAVO Leadership Forums. “We expect this year’s Symposium and gala awards ceremony to be the best ever.”

Sponsors of the Council of the Americas Symposium and 22nd BRAVO Business Awards include: HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Burson-Marsteller, AES, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, The Boston Consulting Group, Bombardier, and Chubb. Media partners include CNN and The Financial Times.

The Symposium is organized in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank. 

For more information, please visit: bravobusiness.com

Press inquiries:
Victoria Peris | victoria.peris@bm.com | 1-305-347-4315
AS/COA Media Relations | mediarelations@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8384 | 1-212-277-8333

Council of the Americas (COA) is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. The Council's membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation. Its sister organization, Americas Society (AS) is the premier forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Its mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.