Panelistas

• Sean Summers, Vicepresidente Senior & Chief Marketing Officer, MercadoLibre
• Claudio Muruzábal, Presidente, SAP Latin America
• Andy Freire, Managing Partner & Head South Cone, SoftBank (moderador)

El panel sobre tecnología e inversiones de la conferencia de AS/COA y CAC en Buenos Aires empezó con Andy Freire hablando del potencial argentino de generar emprendimientos "unicornios," empresas con una valuación por encima de los 1000 millones de dólares. "En los últimos años vemos que hubo 20 unicornios en la región, y de ésas, 6 son argentinas." Los panelistas en seguida hablaron de las condiciones regulatorias que contribuyen a la creación de éxitos como MercadoLibre,  como la Ley de Software, políticas de educación, e inversiones en tecnología. Para los panelistas, hay que transformar el emprendimiento en una política de estado.

During a TED talk-style presentation at twenty-fifth annual Council of the Americas Symposium in Miami, Softtek CEO Blanca Treviño discussed the essential skills and characteristics leaders need in today's fast-changing world. Treviño, head of Latin America's largest software services company, says agility and flexibility are key to anticipating and adapting to customers’ needs, but more importantly, leadership requires self-determination, empathy, and trust.

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Panelists

• Kiki del Valle, Senior Vice President, Digital Partnerships, Mastercard LAC
• Osvaldo Gimenez, CEO, MercadoPago and EVP, MercadoLibre
• Fernando Iraola, Managing Director, Head of Latin America Corporate Banking & Global Transaction Services, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Cristina Junqueira, Co-founder, Nubank
• Jorge Becerra, Managing Director & Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group (moderator)

“Seven years ago, the term fintech or unicorn did not exist,” said Cristina Junqueira of Nubank, one of the newest financial technology unicorns of Latin America, on a panel at twenty-fifth annual Council of the Americas Symposium in Miami. Industry leaders joined her in discussing how digital technology has transformed the payments and banking industry, expanded financial inclusion, and improved customer experience and security. For MercadoPago’s Osvaldo Gimenez, increasing case-uses for a single smartphone application is top of mind for the industry. Kiki del Valle of Mastercard said tokenization will be at the forefront of the next digital wave, in which regulators will play a crucial role, added Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Fernando Iraola.

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Panelists:

• Paula Bellizia, Vice President – Sales, Marketing and Operations for Latin America, Microsoft
• Fernando González, CEO, CEMEX
• Erika Herrero, CEO, Belcorp
• Claudio Muruzabal, President, SAP Latin America and the Caribbean
• Paula Santilli, CEO, Latin America PepsiCo
• José Manuel Rodríguez, Anchor and Senior Correspondent, CNN en Español (moderator)

With access to more information than ever before, customers are significantly more empowered, increasingly demanding, and holding businesses to higher standards. That's why having a growth mindset should be at the center of company culture, said Microsoft's Paula Bellizia in a panel at twenty-fifth annual Council of the Americas Symposium in Miami. Engaging customers early in the innovation process is also key, Belcorp's Erika Herrero said, highlighting, “We create an obsession in the organization to listen to the consumer’s needs.” Another way to innovate, offered SAP's Claudio Muruzabal, is to create parallel company boards comprising millennials that facilitate cross-pollination in coming up with solutions.

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Welcoming Remarks:

• Susan Segal, President & CEO, AS/COA

Panelists:

• Ana Paula Assis, General Manager, IBM Latin America
• André El-Mann, CEO, Fibra Uno
• Andrés Gluski, President and CEO, The AES Corporation and Chairman AS/COA
• Gerardo Mato, Chairman, Global Banking and Markets – Americas, HSBC
• João Miranda, CEO, Votorantim
• Martin Reeves, Managing Director & Senior Partner, Director of the BCG Henderson Institute (moderator)

How can leaders adapt to the trends transforming business in Latin America and across the globe? Industry executives shared their insights at the twenty-fifth annual Council of the Americas Symposium in Miami. For IBM's Ana Paula Assis, leaders should be empathetic, humble, and collaborative. Embracing technology and the constant need to learn and adapt are other components of strong leadership, added Fibra Uno's André El-Mann. And putting sustainability at the heart of decision-making is key to converging technology with business and society, said HSBC's Gerardo Mato. AES’s Andrés Gluski talked about the importance for incumbents to disrupt today’s business for the products of tomorrow and to have the humility to have a light touch and let smaller acquisitions develop freely. “To change, you don’t have to send a lot of people to Palo Alto,” said Votorantim CEO João Miranda, also the 2019 BRAVO Business CEO of the Year. “Change comes from within.”

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