Laura Chinchilla Miranda was elected president of the Republic of Costa Rica on February 7, 2010, becoming the first woman to lead the country. Prior to being elected, she was first vice president and minister of justice in the administration of Oscar Arias from 2006 to 2010. President Chinchilla served in the National Assembly as a deputy for the province of San José from 2002 to 2006. During the administration of José María Figueres, she worked as vice minister for public security from 1994 to 1996 and minister of public security from 1996 to 1998. President Chinchilla has worked as a consultant on issues of judicial and public security reform in Latin America and Africa for various international agencies, including U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations Development Program and the Inter-American Development Bank. She is a graduate from the University of Costa Rica and received her master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.
President Laura Chinchilla has a personal account: @Laura_Ch, as well as a presidential account: @PresidenciaCR. The president’s office also tweets from the information desk: @PresidentaCR.
Jorge Abadía is the current CEO of Telefónica Costa Rica and has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications sector. Previously, while working at Telefónica, he played an active role in the company’s process of internationalization and the proposed acquisition of Bellsouth in Latin America for U.S. $5,800 million. Mr. Abadía has vast experience in the telecommunications sector all over Latin America, where he has expanded Telefónica operations in addition to completing successful operations and Europe and China which has contributed to positioning Telefónica as a reference shareholder of China UNICOM. Before becoming CEO of Telefónica Costa Rica, he was director of corporate development at Telefónica Latinoamérica and analyzed investments. Prior to that, Mr. Abadía held various positions at Telefónica and began as an investment analyst with the company in 1992. He holds a degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, and has completed a senior management program at the IESE Business School in Spain and a senior leadership program at INSEAD in France.
Patt Cronin is general manager of global technology delivery and delivery excellence at IBM. In this role, she has the responsibility of transforming the way IBM delivers services globally and manages the global delivery centers in India, China, Brazil and Argentina—a team of over 40,000 employees. Previously, Ms. Cronin was the general manager of the IBM Global account, managing a budget of 3.4 billion dollars for applications, leading edge technologies, infrastructure and processes that enable world-class, resilient services to IBM. She has held many positions in IBM Such as vice president of Olympic technology integration in 1999, responsible for the supervision and the development of 13 million lines of computer code to insure that the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games went smoothly. Ms. Cronin received the HENAAC Award for Executive Excellence and was named “Hispanic Engineer” and one of the 50 Most Important Hispanics in Technology and Business. She also serves as co-chair of IBM’s Hispanic Task Force, which works to attract and develop Hispanic talent to the company, and she is an active member of the Pan American Roundtable, which focuses on increasing the number of Latino women who attend universities. Ms. Cronin holds a BS degree from University of Santa Clara and an MBA in Computer Systems from Golden Gate University.
Alejandro Cruz was appointed Minister of Science and Technology of Costa Rica on February 15th, 2011. Previously, he has held various positions with the Costa Rican Institute of Technology, a public university that started in 1973, serving as a president of the university from 1995 to 2003. Minister Cruz has also been associated with National Rectors Council (CONARE) and the National Center of High Technology (CENAT), both supported by state universities. He has also worked for the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) from 1983 to 1987. He served both as advisor and consultant to various other government agencies, academic institutions and private companies. Since his retirement in 2009, Minister Cruz was dedicated to his family farm and business until President Laura Chinchilla designated him minister of science and technology. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Costa Rica and a Master of Science degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) and Syracuse University.
You can follow Alejandro Cruz through his ministry’s account: @micitcr. The University of Costa Rica shares scientific papers through @Ciencia_UCR.
Muni Figueres was appointed ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States in September of 2010. She has extensive experience in the politics of trade policy and trade negotiations as instruments of development. Previously, Ambassador Figueres was external relations advisor at the Inter-American Development (IDB) from 1992-2001 and headed the Trade and Integration Division at IDB from 1990 to 1992. Prior to that, she was appointed special presidential trade representative in Washington, D.C. from 1988 to 1990 for Costa Rica’s support towards U.S. congressional approval of the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Ambassador Figueres also served as director general of the Costa Rican government’s trade diversification strategy at the Investment and Trade Promotion Agency from 1982 to 1986 and minister of foreign trade from 1986 to 1988. She served on a number of boards between 2001 and 2010, among which include IDT Telecom, Inc.; LASPAU (academic graduate level exchange programs affiliated with Harvard University); International Executive Service Corps (support to SME’s on a global scale); International Social Services, and the International Advisory Board of the Council of the Americas. Ambassador Figueres holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and a BA from the City College of New York.
Leonardo Garnier was appointed minister of education of the Republic of Costa Rica in May of 2006 by then President Oscar Arias. He was confirmed by President Laura Chinchilla in May of 2010 to serve the same position under her administration as well. Minister Garnier was also minister of planning and economic policy from 1994 to1998 during the administration of José María Figueres and vice minister of planning during the first administration of Oscar Arias. He has been a professor of Economy at the University of Costa Rica and a consultant on economic, social and public policy for various international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). Mr. Garnier has published several articles in books and magazines about economic and social issues related to development. Minister Garnier recently published “Costa Rica: un país subdesarrollado casi exitoso” with Laura Cristina Blanco. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research in New York.
Leonardo Garnier can be followed here: @leogarnier, and also through his blog www.leonardogarnier.com. You can follow his ministry here: @Educatico.
Anabel González is minister of foreign trade of the Republic of Costa Rica. Prior to her current position, she was senior consultant on trade and investment issues for the Inter-American Development Bank from 2009 to 2010. Prior to that, Minister González served as director of the agriculture division at the World Trade Organization between 2006 and 2009. She has also worked for the Ministry of Foreign Trade as chief negotiator of CAFTA-DR from 2002 to 2004. Minister González previously served as director general of Costa Rica’s Investment Promotion Agency and vice minister of foreign trade from 1998 to 2001 and first as Director General at the same ministry from 1990 to 1997. She has also published and lectured extensively on trade and investment issues in more than 25 countries. Minister González obtained a law degree from the University of Costa Rica, and a Master’s degree in Law from Georgetown University.
Follow COMEX and Anabel González through @comexcr.
Fernando Herrero is minister of finance of the Republic of Costa Rica. Previously, he was director of the Regulatory Authority of Public Services of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2010. Minister Herrero was also executive director of the Central American Program for Sustainable Democracy (PROCESOS), consulting on topics such as development and public finance. Prior to that, he served as the permanent representative of Costa Rica to the Organization of American States (OAS) and president of the OAS Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs of the Permanent Council. In the private sector, Minister Herrero has been executive director of ATD Consultores S.A. and a consultant and director of the Asociación Alternativas de Desarrollo. He has held positions within the Costa Rican government under the administrations of José María Figueres, Óscar Arias, and Luis Alberto Monge. Minister Herrero has had a long career in academia as a professor of Economics at the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica. He received a Master of Philosophy degree in Economic Development and International Economy and a Master of Arts degree in Economics from New York University as well as a degree in Economics and Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Costa Rica.
Carlos Felipe Jaramillo is the lead economist for the Central America department of the World Bank. Previously, he was the World Bank’s director for the Andean region (Bolivia, Chile Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela). In this position, Mr. Jaramillo was responsible for the programs that support development in these five nations. He was also responsible for a broad program of loan operations and studies. Prior to that, Mr. Jaramillo served as sector administrator for the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network (PREM) for Europe and Central Asia. He also held various positions in the public administration of Colombia such as vice minister of finance, director of the department of economic studies and macroeconomic programming for the Central Bank of Colombia and the director of the commercial office of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Washington. Mr. Jaramillo has been a professor at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá and the University of Maryland, focusing his academic work on macroeconomic topics such as trade policy and rural development. He is the author of four books and numerous publications in professional magazines. His latest book entitled “DR-CAFTA: Challenges and Opportunities for Central America” was published by the World Bank in 2006. Mr. Jaramillo received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Applied Economics from Stanford University.
The World Bank in Latin America and the Caribbean and its Central America Director Felipe Jaramillo can be followed here: @WorldBankLAC.
Luis Liberman was elected second vice president of the Republic of Costa Rica in February of 2010. Previously, he was a member of the presidential board and worked at La Nación as well as the the Costa Rican Industry of Electricity. Vice President Liberman was also vice president of the National Company of Power and Light. He has also worked at Plastics for Construction and was president of the Private Investment Corporation of Central America. Vice President Liberman was the founder of the Corporación Internacional de Finanzas in Costa Rica, which eventually became Banco INTERFIN. There he worked as general manager and vice president of the board to transform it into one of the strongest financial institutions in the country, becoming Scotiabank Costa Rica in 2006 where he also served as CEO. Vice President Liberman served as economic advisor, vice minister of finance, and advisor to the World Bank under the administration of Daniel Oduber Quirós. Previously, he worked as a consultant to the National Planning Office in Costa Rica, and taught at the University of Costa Rica where he was a professor of Economics for 25 years. Vice President Liberman obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of California, and received his Ph.D .in Economics from the University of Illinois, where he received honors.
Follow Luis Liberma here: @LuisLiberman.
Ravi Lingam is general manager for Cisco Central America. He has been at Cisco over 13 years, and has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 18 years. During his tenure in Cisco, Mr. Lingam has had several roles spanning from software development and systems engineering to sales and business development. He has vast experience working with service providers, in Asia Pacific, European and Latin American markets. Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Lingam was the principal software architect for Summa4 (which was acquired by Cisco), and was also a research fellow at Iwasaki, a joint Japanese-American venture, where he was involved in plasma and nuclear applications research along with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (N.I.S.T). His educational experience includes degrees in Physics and Computer Engineering, specializing in digital signal processing and telecommunications.
Sergio Luna is vice-president of the department of economic and sociopolitical research at Citi Latin America, an institution he joined in 1987 as an analyst. He is currently in charge of real-sector analysis, an area which includes regional economics, industrial analysis and research on structural issues of the Mexican economy. Since October 2005, Dr. Luna has also worked as the liaison between economic research at Banamex and Citigroup´s economic and market analysis team in New York, where he is the economist for Mexico. He has contributed to several specialized journals such as Trimestre Económico and Investigación Económica, as well as books published both in Spanish and English. Dr. Luna has been a guest speaker at institutions such as the University of Michigan, Pace University, HEC-Montreal, CSIS, the RIIA (Chatham House) and ECLAC. He was also Mexico´s representative to the Pacific Economic Outlook Group of PEEC for eight years. Throughout the years, Dr. Luna has taught at UNAM´s School of Economics, the University of London and at CIDE (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica) in Mexico City. He earned his Bachelor´s Degree in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds an MSc and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of London (Queen Mary & Westfield College).
Bill Merrigan has been the site leader of Procter & Gamble Global Business Services of Costa Rica since 2005. P&G established its services operations in Costa Rica in 1999 and Mr. Merrigan arrived in Costa Rica in 2002 to lead P&G’s financial service operations for the Americas. His previous experiences with P&G include positions such as senior finance manager for business units in the Caribbean and Latin America. Mr. Merrigan has also lectured at various universities on strategic planning, financial management and building winning organizations, and has been featured on industry-wide panels in Costa Rica and other countries regarding competitiveness, including the Americas Competitiveness Forum IV in Atlanta in November 2010. He serves on the board of directors of the Costa Rican – American Chamber of Commerce, previously serving as first vice-president, and previously served as the treasurer of the Costa Rica – U.S.A. Foundation for Development (CRUSA). Mr. Merrigan received a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
José Rossi is president of the board of director of the costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency. He is also currently the president and active partner of CFS Group, a local investment banking firm. Mr. Rossi also serves in the Board of Directors of several prestigious companies in Costa Rica, as well as some non-profit organizations. Previously, Mr. Rossi was elected president and CEO of Corporación Cormar S.A. in 1997, where he conducted the process that lead to a series of joint ventures with international partners; and in 2003 Cormar was fully acquired by Deutsche Post World Net. He remained at the organization as vice president and general director of all DHL business in Central America until 2005 when he resigned. Mr. Rossi served as minister of foreign trade of Costa Rica in 1994 under the administration of José Maria Figueres. His began his career at Cormar S.A., which at the time was a customs brokerage company in Costa Rica. Mr. Rossi occupied different positions prior to being appointed as general manager in 1986. He studied Business Administration with a major in Management, graduating from Texas A&M University.
Susan L. Segal was elected president and CEO of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas in August 2003 after working in the private sector with Latin America and other emerging markets for over 30 years. Prior to her current position, she was a founding partner of her own investment and advisory group focused primarily on Latin America and the US Hispanic Sector. Previously, Susan was a partner and Latin American Group head at JPMorgan Partners/Chase Capital Partners where she invested across sectors and countries in addition to pioneering early stage venture capital investing in Latin America. Prior to joining CCP, Susan was a senior managing director focused on Emerging Markets Investment Banking and Capital Markets at MHT/Chemical/Chase Banks. She was actively involved in the Latin American Debt crisis of the 1980’s and early 1990’s, sitting on many Advisory Committees as well as serving as chairperson for the Chilean and Philippine Advisory Committees. In addition to being a board member at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, Susan is also a director of the Tinker Foundation, the International Advisory Board of Endeavor and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1999, she was awarded the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins, Grado de Gran Oficial in Chile. In 2009, President Álvaro Uribe honored her with the Cruz de San Carlos.
Follow Susan Segal here: @s_segal.
Scott Thome was appointed senior vice president of operations of the cardiovascular division at St. Jude Medical, Inc. in March of 2009 after serving as vice president of operations since June of 2005. Previously, he was senior director of program management and process development of the company from October of 2000 to June of 2005. He was awarded the Hendrickson Award for his work with the mechanical anastomotic system. Mr. Thome joined St. Jude Medical as the project technical leader during the Vascular Science acquisition. At Vascular Science, he was a main contributor for the development and commercialization of the mechanical anastomotic system. In addition, Mr. Thome has held research and development engineering and program management roles with Urologix, SCIMED and Hutchison Technology. He holds an MBA in Marketing from St. Cloud State University and a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University.
Gabriel Torres is lead analyst for Costa Rica at Moody’s. Previously, he worked as a sovereign and banking credit analyst at ABN Amro. Mr. Torres has experience rating and structuring international securitizations. He has written analyses on countries in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and has also published several articles for specialized magazines like Latin Finance and America Economía. He also writes a regular newspaper column on Latin American country risk, which is published in more than seven countries in the region. Mr. Torres holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Catholic University of Argentina, and a Master’s degree in Economic Policy from Columbia University.
Vilma Villalobos is corporate affairs manager and corporate citizenship lead of Microsoft Multi-Country Americas. She joined Microsoft in 2003 and serves a vast number of Latin American regions countries: Central America, the Caribbean, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru. Ms. Villalobos’s responsibilities are to lead the regulatory and public policy area, corporate social responsibility program, and engagements with high level public sector officials, policymakers, IT and business industry, NGOs, think tanks, academia, among others. She served as the minister of economy, industry and commerce of Costa Rica from 2002 to 2003 and was in charge of dictating public policies on internal commerce regulations. Prior to that, Ms. Villalobos was executive director of the regulatory reform program of the government of Costa Rica from 1998 to 2002. She was also a legislative adviser from 1990 to 1992 and 1995 to 1998, participating in several economic reforms such as monetary policy and financial reform, stock exchange market, pension reform, mutual funds, finance, taxation and budgeting committee, economic legislative committee, external credits, and privatization regulation. Ms. Villalobos holds an MSc degree from Ohio State University, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Costa Rica, and completed post graduate studies in Business Administration at the same university.
Shahid Yusuf is an economic advisor at the World Bank. He is also a chief economist of The Growth Dialogue at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Yusuf has been with the World Bank since 1974, when he joined as a young professional and has spent more than 35 years dealing with the issues facing developing countries. He was also the team leader for the World Bank-Japan project on East Asia’s future economy from 2000 to 2009. Dr. Yusuf was also the director of the World Development Report: 1999-2000, Entering the 21st Century. Prior to that, he was economic advisor to the senior vice president and chief economist from 1997 to 1998. Between 1995 and 1997, Dr. Yusuf was lead economist for the East Africa department and from 1989 to 1993, he served as lead economist for the China and Mongolia department. Dr. Yusuf has written extensively on development issues, focusing particularly on East Asia. He is also widely published in various academic journals, and has authored or edited 24 books on industrial and urban development, innovation systems, and tertiary education. Dr. Yusuf holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.
