Richard Lapper is an independent journalist and consultant. He worked at the Financial Times between 1990 and 2015. He was the newspaper’s Latin America editor between 1998 and 2008, headed up the FT’s investment research service on Latin America from 2010 until 2015, and the entire emerging market research service between 2014 and 2015. Lapper was also Southern Africa bureau chief (2008–2010), capital markets editor (1994–1997) and financial news editor (1997–1998).

Gustavo Mendes has been part of the Bank of Americas Global Research team for two years, focusing on the Brazilian economy. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Brasília and a master's degree in Economics from the São Paulo School of Economics (FGV EESP). He is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

Sebastián Murillo is director of operational excellence at Intel with over 22 years of experience driving quality, process improvement, business process automation, and Artificial Intelligence applications within Shared Services organizations.

Alejandro Soberón Kuri is the founder and executive chairman of Grupo CIE (Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento), as well as the founder and CEO of OCESA, the leading live entertainment company in Mexico and Latin America.

Pedro Azagra was appointed chief executive officer of Iberdrola in June 2025. He is also a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.

Mr. Azagra is a professional with a long career within the company, having joined the organization as strategy director in 1997.

He later moved to London, where he served as managing director of development until 2022, being responsible for the Iberdrola Group’s M&A operations and leading its international expansion.

Dr. María Isabel Castillo Báez has been the ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United States of America since April 2025. She has over 20 years of diplomatic experience, having joined the Dominican Foreign Service in 2002. She earned her doctor of law degree, Magna Cum Laude, from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Santo Domingo.

Alex González Ormerod is the founder of The Mexico Political Economist, which covers Mexican politics and policy for a global audience. Most recently he has published a book on the fall and rise of the Mexican right, La derecha no existe (pero ahí está).

Madeline Pumariega is the first female president appointed to lead one of the nation’s largest educational institutions, Miami Dade College (MDC). Adding to the historic nature of this appointment is the fact that Pumariega is an alumna of MDC.