Panelists

• Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, Vice President & Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Panama
• Katia Bouazza, Managing Director, Head of Latin America Global Banking, HSBC
• Patricia Menéndez-Cambó, Vice Chair, Greenberg Traurig
• Susan Segal, CEO & President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas (moderator)

While there’s been some progress on gender parity, the pace of change has not been fast enough, agreed a panel of female leaders at the 2018 Council of the Americas Symposium. One way to speed up the pace is to address implicit bias both in the workforce and at home, and to involve everyone. “Gender is not an issue just for women. Gender is an issue of development, gender is an issue of societies, gender is an issue of the world advancing faster and advancing further,” said Panamanian Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, who successfully pushed for a new law in Panama that requires women to fill at least 30 percent of board seats in public institutions. Having men buy into the importance of diversity is also a key element, said HSBC’s Katia Bouazza. “The worst thing that could happen right now is for men to retreat.”

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Panelists

• Carlos Mario Giraldo Moreno, CEO, Grupo Éxito
• Claudio Muruzábal, President, SAP Latin America & The Caribbean
• Alfredo Zolezzi Garretón, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, AIC Technologies; President, Alfredo Zolezzi Foundation
• Wendy Woods, Global Leader – Social Impact Practice, The Boston Consulting Group (moderator)

What responsibilities do businesses have as social actors? “Purpose is ‘the why’ an organization exists,” said the Boston Consulting Group’s Wendy Woods, who moderated the third panel of the 2018 Council of the Americas Symposium. In her opening remarks, she cited evidence showing a company’s financial success positively correlates with its environmental and social performance. As an example of how Colombian retailer Grupo Éxito lives out its purpose, CEO Carlos Mario Giraldo Moreno focused on nutrition through his company’s Gen Cero Strategy, citing how the childhood malnutrition rate in the country has dropped from 14 to 10 percent in the last five years.

As head of a tech company, SAP Latin America & the Caribbean President Claudio Muruzábal highlighted entrepreneurship. He gave the example of his company’s One Billion Lives initiative that encourages employees to devise startups that will improve the lives of others. Measurement is important, he said, but “what is more important is changing the culture.” AIC’s Alfredo Zolezzi Garretón talked about the value of partnerships, highlighting how AIC partners with Airbus to put technology in schools in low-income communities. In the future, he is looking to develop socially beneficial apps, technology he says that is ultimately “an excuse” to see transformational change.

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Panelistas:

• Carolina Cuevas Merino, Subsecretaria de la Mujer y la Equidad de Género, Chile
• Elizabeth Nieto, Vicepresidente Senior, Diversidad e Inclusión Global, MetLife
• Esteban Rodríguez, Presidente Ejecutivo, Accenture Chile
• Claudia Manuela Sánchez Muñoz, Directora, Banco BCI
• Jorge Becerra, Socio Senior, The Boston Consulting Group (moderador)

El segundo panel de la conferencia de AS/COA en Santiago tocó el tema de la paridad de género. Carolina Cuevas Merino habló sobre las iniciativas en el gobierno de Sebastián Piñera que intentan mejorar la participación de mujeres en el sector laboral, ya que sigue siendo menos del 50 por ciento en Chile. Pero para incentivarlas hay que seguir reformando las estructuras de poder dentro de las compañías, enfatizó Elizabeth Nieto. Igual estas iniciativas necesitan el propio apoyo de los hombres, añadió Claudia Manuela Sánchez Muñoz. Por otro lado también hace falta aumentar la cantidad de mujeres en carreras técnicas, dijo Esteban Rodríguez.

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