2026 COA Symposium and 31st BRAVO Business Awards

November 19, 2026

Loews Hotel Coral Gables

2950 Coconut Grove Dr.

Coral Gables, FL 33134

Overview

The 2026 Council of the Americas Symposium will gather over 500 regional corporate leaders—including CEOs, company founders, industry pioneers and government officials—from across Latin America's diverse sectors and geographies.Through a series of public and private sessions, this full-day business conference provides an exclusive opportunity to hear directly from those driving the region's transformation and to explore the ideas, strategies and innovations shaping it's future.

Celebrating more than three decades of excellence, the 31st BRAVO Business Awards will recognize exceptional companies and leaders whose vision and leadership are driving transformative impact across industries and communities in Latin America. The prestigious awards will be presented at a black-tie gala at the Loews Coral Gables Hotel, in Miami, Florida.

Join the discussion on LinkedIn or X: #BRAVObiz

Registration Support: Natalia Posada at nposada@as-coa.org

Sponsorship opportunities: Cyndi Balladares at cballadares@as-coa.org

Engagement and Thought Leadership: Luciana Sabillon at lsabillon@as-coa.org

Press inquiries: mediarelations@as-coa.org

Accommodations: Loews Coral Gables Hotel room block (limited rooms available at a special rate)

Agenda

2026 Council of the Americas Symposium
"Latin America's Next Chapter: Growth, Investment & the AI Economy"
*Main Stage Programming*

8:00–9:00 am | Registration & Breakfast

9:00–9:10 am | Welcome Remarks

9:10–9:50 am | Latin America's Opportunity in a Changing Global Economy

9:50–10:30 am | Powering the AI Economy: Latin America's Data Center Potential

10:30–11:10 am | The AI Roadmap: From Strategy to Competitive Advantage

11:10–11:30 am | Banking Beyond Digital: Innovation, Leadership & the Human Connection

11:30–11:50 am | Networking Coffee Break

11:50 am–12:10 pm | A CEO's Playbook for Leading Through Crisis

12:10–12:50 pm | Latin American Companies in the U.S. Market: Growth & Expansion

12:50–1:10 pm | BRAVO Leadership Conversation: TBC

1:15–2:30 | Closing & Lunch

*Speakers will be announced soon.

Speakers

Roberto Alvo

CEO, LATAM Airlines

Roberto Alvo is CEO of Latam Airlines Group, having assumed the role in April 2020. With over 18 years experience at LATAM, Roberto was previously chief commercial officer and has held various positions in the group with the responsibility for network, alliances and fleet...

Tarciana Medeiros

Chief Executive Officer, Banco do Brasil

Tarciana Medeiros has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and post-graduate degrees in administration, business and marketing and in leadership, innovation and management. She has been an employee of Banco do Brasil for over 20 years. In 2021, she held the position of...

Carlos Barrera

Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Renewable Energy

Carlos "Ucho" Barrera is currently the CEO of Atlas Renewable Energy, a leading Renewable Energy company with operations in the Americas that is currently one of the largest solar IPPs in the region. Atlas started operations in early 2017 after a successful MBO backed by Actis, a...

Andrés Gluski

President and CEO, The AES Corporation and Chairman, AS/COA

Andrés Gluski has served as president and CEO of The AES Corporation since 2011, transforming it into one of the world’s largest clean power providers to corporations with a focus on technology companies. AES supplies over 11 GW of agreements signed directly with technology...

Dr. Athina Kanioura

CEO, Latin America Foods and Global Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, PepsiCo

As CEO of Latin America Foods, Athina Kanioura oversees the operating units within the LatAm Foods Region. Under her leadership, Latin America Foods is innovating with digital-first solutions, leveraging AI, and piloting new culinary initiatives that excite consumers.

As chief...

Can Kuterdem

President, Latin America and Canada Region

Can Kuterdem joined Philip Morris International (PMI) in 2020 as the vice president of strategy for Europe which is PMI’s largest region by volume and value. In 2024, he assumed the role of president of the Board and managing director of Philip Morris Poland. Recently, in August...

Carlos Capistran

Managing Director and Head of Latin America and Canada Economics Research, BofA Securities

Carlos Capistran is managing director and Head of Latin America and Canada Economics Research at BofA Securities, which he joined in 2011 as chief Mexico economist. He has been ranked the #1 Latin America and Mexico economist in the Institutional Investor survey, and under his...

Gabriela Frías

Anchor, CNN en Español

Gabriela Frías is a Mexican journalist with more than two decades of experience in the field. Frías is currently the anchor of Panorama Mundial, CNN en Espanol’s primetime newscast which presents the most relevant news events of the region and the world.

Before her current role...

Juan Pablo del Valle

Chairman, Orbia

As a disciplined business leader with deep experience steering growth companies to sustainability and profitability, Juan Pablo del Valle has guided Orbia’s transformation from a local commodities company into a global leader in basic and advanced materials and sustainable...

Julio Figueroa

Head of Latin America, Citi

Julio Figueroa is the head of Citi in Latin America. Mr. Figueroa joined Citi in 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division. Since then, he had several roles within CIB in Buenos Aires (1994-2001), Miami (2001- 2004) and New York (2004...

Maria Lourdes Teran

Vice President, AS/COA Miami

Maria Lourdes Teran is vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and head of the AS/COA Miami office. With over 25 years of experience working with Latin America, she leads business-relevant public policy programs in Miami engaging public- and private-sector...

Martin Fernandez-Romero

Managing Director & Chairman of the Boards, Moody's Local Group

Martin Fernandez-Romero is an experienced financial professional with expertise in capital markets in Latin America. He has spent over two decades working in the industry, leading teams, and managing businesses in the region. He currently serves as the managing director of the...

Mauricio Janauskas

Managing Partner for Spanish Latin America, McKinsey & Company

Mauricio Janauskas is a senior partner in McKinsey's Santiago de Chile office and managing partner for Spanish Latin America. He previously served as leader of the Chile office and leader of McKinsey's Transformation Practice for Latin America. He has more than two decades of...

Paula Bellizia

Vice President, Latin America, Amazon Web Services

With more than 30 years of professional experience in the technology industry across several leading companies, including leadership positions at a number of Fortune 500 tech companies, Paula Bellizia is the new Vice President of AWS for Latin America. Prior to join AWS, Paula...

Ricardo Alário Arantes

CEO, ODATA

Ricardo Alário Arantes serves as CEO of ODATA and is one of the company's co-founders. He has nearly two decades of experience in telecommunications, media, information technology, and business development, with a distinguished track record at Intel Capital, where he served as an...

Richard Cooper

Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Richard Cooper is a partner based in Cleary Gottlieb’s New York office where he focuses on international and domestic restructurings both in the private and public sectors. Cooper led the team that advised the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with the restructuring of approximately...

Roberto Lara

CEO, Castillo Hermanos

Roberto Lara is the CEO of Castillo Hermanos, an international business group with more than 139 years of constant evolution. Its purpose of: “Combining innovation and passion to share and celebrate every moment of your life generating wellness and sustainable development”, has...

Shu Nyatta

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Bicycle Capital

Shu Nyatta is the co-founder and managing partner of Bicycle Capital, a new firm with $0.5B of capital, focused on investments in growth-stage technology companies in Latin America. From March 2015 until April 2022, Shu served in multiple senior investment roles at SoftBank...

Simoni Morato

President and CEO, Safra Bank of New York

Simoni Morato has been the chief executive officer of Safra National Bank of New York, a company part of the J. Safra Group, since February 2006. She also serves on the bank’s Executive Committee and is a member of the bank’s Board of Directors. Under Simoni’s leadership, Safra...

Sol Rashidi

Chief Strategy Officer for Data and AI, Cyera

Sol Rashidi is the world's first chief AI officer appointed back in 2016. As a Sr. Fellow at Harvard with nine patents, a best-selling author, and a former Amazon executive and C-Suite executive for several Fortune 100s, Sol was named FORBES “AI Maverick & Visionary of the 21st...

Susan Segal

President and CEO, Americas Society/Council of the Americas

Susan Segal was elected President and CEO of Americas Society/Council of the Americas in 2003 after having worked in the private sector with Latin America and other emerging markets for over 30 years. Prior to her appointment, Susan was a partner at Chase Capital Partners...