Finance and Water Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean

Sergio Díaz-Granados

Executive President, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-

Sergio Díaz-Granados has extensive experience in public and private service, both nationally and internationally, with special emphasis on regional development and integration issues. Before assuming the presidency of CAF, he served as Executive Director for Colombia at the Inter-American Development Bank. He previously held the positions of Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Vice Minister of Business Development and President of the Boards of Directors of Bancóldex and ProColombia. He also has been a congressman and chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Colombia’s House of Representatives.

Loïc Fauchon

President of the World Water Council

Loïc Fauchon is President of the World Water Council since 2018. He was previously  elected as President from 2005 to 2012. 

He has been strongly dedicated for more than 25 years to international advocacy for global water security and access to water and sanitation for all. 

After graduating in political sciences, he first worked as a civil servant, Deputy Secretary General of Marseille, and was Mayor of the town of Trets from 1989 to 1997.  

From 1991 to 2019, he was President and CEO of the Water Supply Company of Marseille, a private leading group of 15 companies in the field of water sanitation, solid wastes, energy, and digital systems. 

He is a member of several international and non-governmental organizations and of the UN High Level Panel on Water Related Disasters (HELP). 

He serves as the President and CEO of Marseille Fair and Congress, Parc Chanot. 

He is one of the founders of the World Water Forums, organized every three years. 

He founded the disaster relief NGO “Trans-Sahara”, as well as “Waterhelp”, two official humanitarian response programs in the Mediterranean and African areas. 

He was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 2003. 

Julián Suárez Migliozzi

Vice President of Sustainable Development of CAF

She is responsible for defining and implementing CAF's programmatic agendas in favor of water and sanitation, health, education, urban development, inclusion and gender, natural capital, and climate change. He held the positions of Vice President in charge of Infrastructure, Director of Infrastructure Projects for the Southern Region and Principal Executive of the Vice Presidency of Financial Systems at CAF. He has been an IDB consultant and professor of microeconomics and international finance at the graduate level at various universities.

Soledad García Muñoz

Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), OAS

Lawyer, specialized in fundamental rights from the Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain. He has provided professional and voluntary services to different United Nations agencies, Amnesty International, the Ibero-American Youth Organization, among other prestigious organizations. Until taking over as REDESCA, she was the regional representative for South America of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights based in Montevideo, Uruguay. She is the first holder of the mandate of REDESCA, after being elected by the IACHR in an inter-American public contest. It was renewed to serve a new term of office in 2020.

Oscar Pintos

President, Association of Potable Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities of the Americas (ADERASA)

He obtained his degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina.

During the last 8 years he has held the following positions:

President of the Association of Potable Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities of the Americas (2016-present); Vice President of ADERSA (2014-2016); President of the Federal Association of Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities of Argentina (2012-present); Member of the International Network of Drinking Water Quality Regulators of the World Health Organization (2011-present); President of the Regulatory Body of Sanitary Services of Santa Fe (2009-present).

Carlos Puente

Director of Water, Energy and Environment, BANOBRAS, Mexico

Carlos Puente is a passionate economist dedicated to infrastructure financing, public-private partnerships, and project development for the past 25 years. Since 2013, he has held the position of Director of Water, Energy and Environment Projects at Banobras, a position where he is committed to the financial and operational sustainability of the water and waste sectors in Mexico.

Malena Galmarini

President of AYSA, Argentina

Degree in Political Science, Government and Administration. In December 2019, she became the first female President of Aguas y Saneamientos Argentinos (Aysa), the second largest water and sanitation company in Latin America and fifth in the world. Ms. Galmarini also chairs the Latin American Association of Water and Sanitation Operators (ALOAS). She is a provincial deputy elected by the Province of Buenos Aires under license and previously served as Secretary of Health Policy and Human Development and Councilor of the Municipality of Tigre, among others.

Jacinto del Lino Pacheco Mosquera

Undersecretary of Technified Parcel Irrigation of the MAG, Ecuador

Agricultural Engineer graduated from the University of Guayaquil, Master in Sciences from CIDIAT -MERIDA, oriented to soils, irrigation and drainage, he was head of the Irrigation and Drainage Department in the Transfer Unit of the Peninsula -CEDEGE, as well as head of agricultural planning of the Planning Unit in the same entity. Director of Agricultural Engineering at the Azucarera Valdez company and has worked designing and executing irrigation and drainage systems in free practice for almost 15 years. He is an expert in evaluating, directing, building and modernizing private and state irrigation and drainage projects, as well as developing community agricultural projects, all this with the use of modern software and tools for fast and efficient work.

Rafael Ugaz

Executive Director, Proinversión, Peru

Economist from the Pontificia Universidad Catñolica del Peru, with an MBA in Finance and Economics and a Master in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

He has 20 years of national and international experience in infrastructure projects, Public Private Associations (PPP), construction, mining, banking and project financing.

Throughout his career he was in charge of project development, strategic planning and financial analysis, feasibility studies, commercial structuring and investments in transportation, mining, water, and energy. And technology, including airport concessions in Costa Rica and sanitation in Ecuador, as well as PPP contract experience for part of the London Underground network in the United Kingdom.

Alexandra Moreira

Secretary General, Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACTO)

Lawyer with specialization in Economic and Environmental Law.

Since January 1, 2019, she is in charge of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization as General Secretary of the Institution. And it has been promoting and expanding the portfolio of projects and financing of ACTO, as well as the generation of strategic alliances with multilateral institutions and cooperators to specify effective cooperation in the Amazon Region. She is the third female Secretary General and the youngest to assume the position in the Organization.

His work in the public function in the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Environment and Water has allowed him to have extensive experience in environmental issues, water resources, climate change and multilateral foreign policy.

She was Minister of the Environment and Water of Bolivia, during the period 2015 to 2017, a management in which public policies on water and sanitation were promoted, as well as the sustainable management of forests and biological diversity. At the same time, it managed important financing and strategic projects for the sector.

In the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was Head of the Cabinet of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of the Mother Earth and Water Unit, a period in which she performed functions in the diplomatic field in international negotiations, mainly as a representative in the National Delegation, for Climate Change issues within the (UNFCCC), Biological Diversity

(CBD), sustainable development, among other conventions and multilateral forums. She was a member of the negotiating team from 2008 to 2014. She was also Minister Counselor at the Bolivian Embassy in the United Mexican States.

Berta Alicia Olmedo

Executive Secretary, Regional Committee for Hydraulic Resources, SICA

She obtained his degree in Statistics from the University of Panama and specialized in Applied Meteorology from the University of Costa Rica.

She has held the positions of consultant for international organizations, manager of Climatology in the Directorate of Hydrometeorology of ETESA, permanent representative of Panama before the World Meteorological Organization and permanent member of the Central American Climate Forum.

Juan Carlos Alurralde

Secretary General of the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of the Plata Basin

He is an agronomist, an engineer in water resources and has a master's degree in the same subject from the Catholic University of Leuven. He is a promoter of the culture of life, promoter of important norms and institutional reforms for IWRM in Bolivia, worked on important projects and research in transboundary waters of several countries in the region, as well as on the subject of climate change, water quality , protected areas and water governance. He was Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia from January 2011 to February 2017, promoting the universal declaration of the human right to water and sanitation, harmony with nature, rights of mother earth, universal citizenship, declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples and various resolutions in favor of integration. He is currently Secretary General of the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of the La Plata Basin Countries.

Iván Lucich Larrauri

President, SUNASS, Peru

Economist from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) and Master in Environmental Economics and Natural Resources from the University of Concepción, Chile.

He has served as Manager of Policies and Norms and Manager of Tariff Regulation of SUNASS. Member of the Academic Council of the Economics and Environmental Management career at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University. Teacher and researcher in environmental economics and in regulation of public services and water resources.

He is currently Executive President of the National Superintendency of Sanitation Services (SUNASS), member of the Association of Potable Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities of the Americas (ADERASA) and of the Peruvian Forum for Water GWP - Peru.

Hugo Rojas

General Director, National Association of Water and Sanitation Companies (ANEAS), Mexico

Economist with knowledge in Water Management, Public Finance, Economic Development and experience in Economic Teaching.

He has a doctorate in Economics in the area of ​​Sustainable Development, graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM.

He is currently the General Director of the National Association of Water and Sanitation Companies (ANEAS) in Mexico. Previously, he held the positions of Deputy Director of National Strengthening of ANEAS (2019), Head of Planning of the Potable Water, Drainage and Sewerage Services System of Puerto Vallarta (2013-2018), Professor of the Master of Finance at the Autonomous University of Nayarit (2012).

Camilo Sánchez

President, National Association of Public Services and Communications Companies (ANDESCO), Colombia

Economist from the Javeriana University, Master in Governance and Democracy from the Santo Tomás University, Senior Management Specialist from the University of Los Andes, graduated from the High Government Program of the Alberto Lleras Camargo School. He also has studies in the analysis of politics and economic law from the Universidad El Externado. In his professional career, he has held important positions in the public sector where he has served as Councilor of the municipality of Anapoima; Representative to the Chamber for the department of Cundinamarca; Congressman of the Republic; Minister of Housing, City and Territory; High Presidential Councilor for the Regions. He has also been General and Financial Manager in private sector companies and member of different boards of directors in Colombia. Since September 2018, he has served as President of the National Association of Public Services and Communications, Andesco.

Claudia Herrera

Executive Secretary, Coordination Center for Disaster Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic

First woman in history to hold the position of Executive Secretary of the Coordination Center for Disaster Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic (CEPREDENAC), since January 1, 2019.

Central American born in Honduras, Bachelor of Business Administration, with 20 years of experience in the approach to Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management.

At the regional level, he was part of the team responsible for harmonizing the Central American Policy for Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, coordinating the participation of CEPREDENAC with the Executive Committee of the Central American Integration System (SICA), government entities, national systems, International cooperation and strategic actors linked to Disaster Risk Reduction, until its approval at the 2017 Summit of Presidents and Heads of State of SICA He led the process for updating the Regional Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019-2023.

Martín Mattos

General Director of Natural Resources, Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Uruguay.

Agricultural Engineer with specialization in Environmental Management.

His professional experience included positions of Sócio-Director da Buricyupi Estudio Agropecuario SRL (2014-present), Commercial Manager of livestock companies of COPAGRAN (2007-2016), Sócio SPC Consultores (2005-present), Administrator Lapinor SA Estabelecimento La Guarida ( 2004 -2020), among others.

Pedro Palacios

Mayor of Cuenca, Ecuador

Bachelor of Industrial Engineering with a master's degree in Business Administration (2000-2002), International Trade (2006-2007), Neuro-Linguistic Programming with Tyrannical Brain (2014-2015).

He has served as a Consultant for Advance Consultora (2003-2009), Project Manager at Grupo Consenso (2006- and General Manager of UTILESA (2015-2019).

Franz Rojas Ortuste

Coordinator of the Water Agenda, CAF

Doctor in Government and Public Policies. Coordinator of the Water Agenda at CAF. Alternate Governor on the World Water Council. Magister in Hydraulics and Civil Engineer from UNAM with the Gabino Barreda medal; experience of more than thirty years in Latin America. He was Coordinator of the WSP of the World Bank in Bolivia; Senior Water Advisor for the German GIZ Cooperation in Peru and Bolivia for twelve years. He led the Water Regulatory Body of Bolivia by presidential appointment. He was National Manager of Engineering and Technical Standards and Assistant Manager of Studies at CONAGUA, Mexico. Consultant for international organizations on three continents and with several published books.

Lupercio Ziroldo Antonio

Director of Engineering and Works of the Department of Water and Electric Power of the State of São Paulo (DAEE), Brazil

Degree in Civil Engineering, completion in 1982 UNILINS / BRASIL, Director of Engineering and General Works of the Department of Water and Energy - DAEE - Government of São Paulo / Brazil, Honorary Governor of the World Water Council, Permanent Technical Secretary of the South Network American of Basin Organizations - RELOC and President of the Brazilian Network of Basin Organizations - REBOB.

Christian Asinelli

Corporate Vicepresident of Strategic Programming, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-

Christian Asinelli is a political scientist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA), has a Master's degree in Public Administration and Policy from the Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSA) and postgraduate degrees in Urban Economics (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) and in Sociourbana Management (FLACSO). In 2019, he received his Ph.D in Political Science from the National University of San Martín (Argentina).

During the last sixteen years he has been appointed in different roles in the public sector and the international arena: Alternate National Director of the State Modernization Project at the Chief of Staff of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Nation (2005); Deputy of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (2007-2010); Undersecretary of Evaluation of Projects with External Financing of the Chief of Staff of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Nation (2011-2014); Corporate Director of Institutional Development of CAF (2014-2017); President of the Fundación Banco Ciudad (2019) and Undersecretary of International Financial Relations for Development, Secretariat of Strategic Affairs, Presidency of the Nation. He was a Fellow of the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program (2010), the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies-MIT (2011) and the Singularity University Executive Program (2017). He is the author of the books Buenos Aires: The city we have, the city we want (Buenos Aires, 2009); Modernization of the Argentine State: policies, management and professional scene (Buenos Aires, Edition, 2015) and Financing Development: The role of multilateral banking in Latin America (Buenos Aires, 2021).

Edgar Salas

Director of the Directorate of Sustainability, Inclusion and Climate Change

He is a Doctor in Civil Engineering (Dr.-Ing.), Specializing in water resources and the environment. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés - Bolivia and his Diploma and Doctorate studies at the Institute of Hydrology, Water Resources and Environmental Techniques of the Ruhr University, Federal Republic of Germany.

He has more than 35 years of professional experience in civil, hydrological and hydraulic engineering projects, planning for the integral management of basins, design and supervision of hydraulic works and environmental management. His knowledge in the formulation of technical standards also stands out, thus he was a participant in the formulation of the environmental law and regulations in his country, developed guides and manuals for the management of water resources, climate risk analysis and for environmental management for various sectors.

Before joining CAF, I have held the position of technical and operations manager at P.C.A. Ingenieros Consultores S.A., was an independent consultant collaborating with prestigious firms and institutions in Germany, Holland, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, having participated and / or directed more than two hundred engineering studies as an expert in water resources and / or the environment. In Bolivia, his country, he was President of the National Committee for the International Hydrological Program of UNESCO and National Director of Environmental Impact Assessment of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Environment, among other positions of equal importance.

Gustavo Saltiel

Global Water and Sanitation Leader in Global Water Practice, World Bank

Previously, he was a Lead Water Specialist for the Southern Cone of Latin America, was in charge of Water programs in the African Region, was Manager of Sustainable Development of the World Bank in Mexico and Senior Expert in the Water Sector of the Department of Water and Urban Development of Latin America from the World Bank. Before joining the World Bank, in Argentina, he held the position of General Manager of Aguas Bonaerenses, SA, Manager of the Buenos Aires Water Regulatory Body, Manager of the Azurix Concessionaire and has been a consultant on infrastructure issues for the World Bank, IDB and Latin American Governments. Saltiel is a Civil Engineer and holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy. He has been a Humphrey Fullbright Fellow at the University of North Carolina in the United States and a Swedish Government Fellow at the University of Lund (Sweden) on environmental sanitation issues.

Jorge Concha

Director of Analysis and Technical Evaluation of Sustainable Development, CAF

Con más de 10 años de experiencia en proyectos y programas de desarrollo social en América Latina, ha trabajado en el financiamiento de infraestructura y cooperación técnica en Argentina, Brasil, Bolivia, Panamá, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela, con énfasis en los sectores de agua potable, saneamiento, riego y desarrollo urbano. Es Licenciado en Derecho y Administración y Dirección de Empresas (E-3) por la Universidad Pontificia de Comillas- ICADE y Licenciado en Economía por la UNED. Tiene una maestría en Gestión Internacional de la Empresa por el Centro de Estudios Económicos y Comerciales de Madrid

Laura Melo

Country Director of the World Food Program, Guatemala

She assumed the position of Country Director of the World Food Program in Guatemala on August 6, 2018. Before her appointment to Guatemala, she was Country Director in Cuba and previously, coordinated in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, a program to promote the small producers link to the market called "Purchasing for Progress (P4P)". With more than 15 years of experience in humanitarian work and working in support and defense of the most vulnerable, in Africa, Latin America and Asia, she worked in different areas, including communications, advocacy, fundraising and project execution. His professional career includes 10 years as a journalist at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and working in advertising. Laura Melo is Portuguese and has a Master's Degree in Social Psychology from the London School of Economic in London.

Jorge Werneck

Director of ADASA

Doctor en Hidrología. Es Director de ADASA desde 2017. Es Gobernador y miembro de la Directoria (Buró) del Consejo Mundial del Agua. Es investigador de Embrapa desde 2001. Fue coordinador temático del VIII Foro Mundial del Agua (Brasil, 2018). Fue vicepresidente de la Asociación Brasileña de Recursos Hídricos - ABRHidro y de la Asociación Brasileña de Agencias Reguladoras - ABAR. Presidió por 2 mandatos el Comité de Cuenca Paranaíba-DF. Es autor de libros y publicaciones con más de 2000 citas en Google Scholar. 

Sergio I. Campos G.

Head of the Water and Sanitation Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington D.C.

Responsible for the portfolio of drinking water, sanitation, water resources management and solid waste, which represents around US $ 9,000 million in 100 projects in the 26 member countries of the IDB. In addition to this, it manages the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean, of US $ 1.1 billion, and also AquaFund, a multi-donor fund for technical cooperation.

He has also led the design and implementation of initiatives and special programs with strategic partners in areas such as behavioral change (Lazos de Agua), green infrastructure (Latin American Alliance of Water Funds), and recycling (Regional Initiative for Inclusive Recycling). among others.

Likewise, Sergio Campos supervises the application of AquaRating - a platform that evaluates the performance of public water companies - and of Hydro-BID, a hydrological simulation tool that has mapped the availability of water in more than 280,000 basins throughout Latin America. and the Caribbean.

Before joining the Bank, Sergio Campos led the structuring of large-scale water and sanitation infrastructure programs with sovereign guarantee and worked on structuring M&A projects in transportation, energy, water and sanitation and telecommunications, as well as projects reengineering, business consulting and microfinance.

Sergio Campos is an economist with a master's degree in finance and public policy.