27th Annual CAF Conference

Luis Almagro

Secretary General, Organization of American States

(Uruguay) is the secretary general of the Organization of American States. Previously, he was Uruguay's minister of foreign affairs and ambassador to China, after occupying senior diplomatic posts in his country’s foreign ministry and at its embassies in Germany and Iran. He is a lawyer by profession. 

Rebecca Bill Chavez

President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue

President and CEO of the Inter-American Dialogue. She is a member of the Truman Center for National Policy Board of Directors, the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS) Steering Committee, the Princeton University Institute for Regional and International Studies Advisory Board, and the Foreign Policy for America Advisory Board. Chavez served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2013 until 2016 where she prioritized Women, Peace, and Security initiatives, combatting the militarization of law enforcement, and expanding defense institution building programs

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.

Luis Abinader

President of the Dominican Republic

Daniel P. Erikson

Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, National Security Council

Marcela Escobari

Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration, National Security Council

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).

Mónica Palencia

Minister of the Interior, Ecuador

Ana María Ibáñez

Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank

Ms. Ana María Ibáñez Londoño, a citizen of Colombia, was appointed Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge (VPS) as of June 1, 2023.  Prior this appointment, Ms. Ibáñez Londoño was Economics Principal Advisor in VPS since 2019 when she joined the IDB.  In this role, she coordinated and supervised the VPS knowledge program in close collaboration with the operational departments, focusing on aligning the multi-annual agenda with the development priorities of the Region.

Before joining the Bank, Ms. Ibáñez was a Professor in the School of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá since 2003, where she conducted cutting-edge research on migration, rural development, and the consequences of conflict. Additionally, from 2012 2016, she was Dean of the School of Economics at the same university and from 2008 2012 was the Director of the Research Center of the School of Economics (CEDE). She has been a visiting professor and senior fellow at several universities during her career, including Princeton and Yale, and is an accomplished writer of publications and books with particular emphasis on migration, forced displacement and armed conflict.

Ms. Ibáñez served in the Board of Directors of Grupo Éxito, BBVA-Colombia, Fundación Éxito and Fundación Saldarriaga Concha, as well as the Advisory Committee of the United Nation’s Peace Building Fund, and the World Bank’s Commission on Poverty.

Ms. Ibáñez holds a Ph.D. degree and a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

Frank Ábrego

Minister of Security of Panama

Diana Alarcón González

Chief advisor and International Affairs Coordinator for Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico City

Chief advisor and International Affairs Coordinator for Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico City. Alarcon has a PhD in economics from the University of California, Riverside. Alarcón recently served as Head of the Policy and Development Analysis Unit at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In the United Nations Secretariat she played a leading role in the preparation of analytical contributions to the intergovernmental processes that defined the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Alarcón played an important role in the coordination of technical assistance provided by the United Nations for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); she was co-chairman of the United Nations commission that prepared the meta-data for the MDGs, and in 2008 she co-directed the creation and annual publication of the report on compliance with MDG-8 in relation to international cooperation for development. She worked for 10 years at the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as in the United Nations Development Program and the International Labor Organization. Alarcón began her professional career as an academic at several universities in Mexico and the United States and was one of the first researchers of the National System of Researchers.

Chinua Alleyne

Mayor of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Chinua Alleyne is the current mayor of Port of Spain, having assumed the role in August 2023. Before becoming mayor, he served as chairman of the Board of Directors of East Port of Spain Development Company Limited.

Alleyne is an alumnus of Queen’s Royal College and the University of Leeds. He is a trained and certified project manager, business development consultant, and health management and administration professional. Academically, he holds a master of arts in health management, planning, and policy, as well as an ACCA certificate in public financial management, among other professional qualifications.

Eddie Bocanegra

Senior Director, Heartland Alliance & Senior Advisor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice

Eddie Bocanegra assumed his role as senior advisor for Community Violence Intervention at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in early 2022, working closely with the assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs. Before joining the DOJ, he held the position of executive director at READI Chicago within Heartland Alliance. In this capacity, he managed and implemented evidence-based, trauma-informed programs aimed at reducing gun violence and fostering safety and opportunity within the city.

With a strong background in community-based organizations and programs addressing trauma and resiliency in violence-affected communities, Bocanegra previously served as the executive director of the YMCA of Chicago’s Youth Safety and Violence Prevention program. During his tenure, he oversaw programs like Urban Warriors and Bridging the Divide, which emphasized trauma-informed approaches. Before joining the YMCA, he worked as a congregational organizer for Community Renewal Society, where he led FORCE, a coalition advocating for increased opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals. His work, featured in the documentary “The Interrupters,” has gained recognition through media outlets like CBS and NPR.

Bocanegra holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in social work from the University of Chicago and Northeastern Illinois University, respectively. He has actively contributed to Chicago’s public safety initiatives and has been engaged in various committees and boards, focusing on criminal justice reform and juvenile justice.

Lilia Luciano

National Correspondent & Anchor, CBS News

Lilia Luciano is an award-winning national correspondent and anchor at CBS News. She is a documentary film director, producer, podcaster, and speaker. Luciano has covered major stories including the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas; the US Election Night of 2022; and the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate in Ecuador. Luciano has spent over a decade covering immigration and drug policy at the US-Mexico border for which her work earned her an Emmy Award in 2019. 

Luciano is the director and producer of Wars of Others, an HBO Latino film about the various consequences of the war on drugs in Colombia. Luciano also wrote, produced, and hosted the CBS News Reports documentaries, Fighting for Paradise: The Future of Puerto Rico and Guns in the Classroom.

She is also the host and executive producer of iHeart Radio’s El Flow podcast, which has won multiple awards, including a Signal Award in 2023.

Luciano sits on the emeritus advisory board of the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign to promote access to quality education and the well-being of girls worldwide. She has been a speaker and moderator at multiple human rights, environmental, journalism and tech conferences around the world. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Luciano is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. She graduated from the University of Miami with degrees in economics and broadcast journalism.

Rubén Ramírez Lezcano

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay

Ivan Marques

Secretary for Multidimensional Security, Organization of American States

Ivan C. Marques is the current secretary for multidimensional security of the Organization of American States (OAS). He is an expert in public security and human rights. He has collaborated with the public and private sector, working on issues of institutional relations, strategic planning, citizen security, protection of human rights, and violence reduction. In his career, he has contributed to the American Chamber of Commerce of Brazil, the São Paulo City Hall, the cabinet of the President of the Republic of Brazil, the Ministry of Human Rights of the federal government and the Sou da Paz Institute, one of the pioneering civil society organizations in campaigns and policy proposals against armed violence in Brazil. More recently, he was a consultant to the United Nations and executive director of the international coalition International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). For services rendered to the development of public security in Brazil, he received several awards, such as the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit for Public Security awarded by the Presidency of the Republic in 2018.

Marques holds a law degree from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Campinas in Brazil, and a master’s degree in human rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science in England.

Maria-Noel Vaeza

Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, UN Women

Maria-Noel Vaeza assumed functions as regional director for the Americas and the Caribbean in July 2019 at UN Women. Vaeza previously worked as director of the Program Division at the UN Women Headquarters in New York. Vaeza joined UN Women from the UNOPS Headquarters in Copenhagen, where she served as director for Global Portfolio Services Office and Partnerships Practice Group and was responsible for the operational results of UNOPS global portfolios and for the establishment of UNOPS strategic partnerships.

Vaeza previously served as the regional director of UNOPS for Latin America and the Caribbean, responsible for a regional portfolio of 270 projects in 22 countries with a total budget of US$ 2.4 billion for the 2007-2013 period and an annual average delivery of nearly US$ 400 million. She spent eight years at UNDP, where she held various posts including senior advisor, deputy resident representative in Paraguay, and senior manager for the Recovery, Reconciliation and Reform Programme.

Prior to joining the UN, Vaeza held multiple positions in Uruguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as political counselor at Uruguay’s Embassy to the US and as delegate of Uruguay to the UN General Assembly. She was also the alternate representative of Uruguay to the World Bank Board of Directors.

She holds a doctorate in law and social science from the University of the Republic of Uruguay and a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.

Margarette May Macaulay

Former President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS)

Michael Stott

Editor for Latin America, Financial Times

He is a graduate of Cambridge University with a master's degree in Modern Languages and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Russian. He is the Latin America editor of the London-based Financial Times. Previously, he was based in Tokyo as managing editor of Nikkei Asian Review, a sister publication covering Asian business and politics. Before that, he was news editor of the FT in the UK. He reported from Latin America from 1990-1998, living in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Previously serving as Moscow bureau chief and editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Reuters, he joined the FT in 2014.

Chris Dodd

Special Presidential Advisor for the Americas

Christopher John Dodd is the current special presidential advisor for the Americas. He served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut’s history. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1981.

During his tenure in the US Senate, Dodd served as chair of the Senate Banking Committee; chair of the Senate Rules Committee; acting chair of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee; and as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he chaired the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere for many years.

Over his three and a half decades in Congress, Dodd was an active legislator, authoring and/or co-authoring several landmark laws, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Affordable Care Act, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Child Care Development Block Grant, and the Help America Vote Act.

He joined the Peace Corps after graduating from Providence College in Rhode Island in 1966 and spent two years working in the Dominican Republic. He served in the US Army, first in the National Guard and later in the reserves, from 1969 to 1975. In 1972, Dodd received a law degree from the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

Laura Chinchilla

Former President, Costa Rica; Co-Chair, Inter-American Dialogue

Political scientist and was the first woman to be elected president of Costa Rica (2010-2014). Previously, she served as minister of public security (1996-1998), congresswoman (2002-2006), minister of justice (2006-2008), and vice president (2006-2008). During her political career, Mrs. Chinchilla prompted police and justice reform measures to tackle crime and violence, digital and open government, the promotion of women's rights, and early childhood protection. She also promoted environmental sustainability policies, especially on preserving marine biodiversity, for which she was distinguished with international awards.

Mauro Castillo

Musician, composer and actor (Encanto)

Carlos Yahanny Valencia Ortiz «Tostao»

Musician and Member of ChocQuibTown

Albert Ramdin

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname

After his second term at the Organization of American States in 2015, Ambassador Albert Ramchand Ramdin resumed to contributing to the further development of his country of birth, the Republic of Suriname. In that regard he advised the then new minister for foreign affairs on a multitude of strategic policy matters, subsequently joined the private sector with an internationally operating USA based mining company and has served up until present as minister of foreign affairs.

Among his many achievements, Ambassador Ramdin championed the first ever official private sector dialogue with the Permanent Council of the OAS.

He has over 25 years of experience in international negotiation, multilateral diplomacy, development assistance, public policy development and execution, strategic trade and business facilitation, project management, fundraising and key expertise in competitiveness.

He has worked on institutional reform and restructuring at government, nongovernment levels and in the private sector to achieve tangible solutions and results. He has an extensive network of contacts with highest and relevant levels of government, private sector, civil society and institutions in the Americas.

He has been involved in several non-state activities ranging from contributions to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, chair of the mining Group in the Trade and Business organization, as well as supporting the political party VHP, the Progressive Reformist Party.

Bill Maloney

Chief Economist for the Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank

Tonija Hope Navas

Diretora da Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, Howard University

Isabel de Saint Malo

Senior Policy Adviser to the Administrator, United Nations Development Program

Isabel de Saint Malo brings extensive international experience working in multilateral organizations, government, and the private sector. Her expertise includes ESG as a critical business issue, sustainability, human capital, corporate social responsibility and human rights in the framework of business risk and opportunity. She is the former Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, and was the first woman to be elected Vice President and appointed Foreign Minister in her country. Currently, she is Senior Policy Adviser to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program and a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Foundation for Reporting Standards (IFRS), at a moment when the IFRS is working to deliver a comprehensive baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards. She serves on the Advisory Board of Institución Internacional SEK, on the Editorial Board of Americas Quarterly, and on the Board of Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL). She previously served as independent member of the Board of BBVA Panama. She has led and facilitated over a dozen dialogue and consensus building processes around development issues in Latin America, bringing together diverse views and constructing a common agenda with the participation of different stakeholders. She has advised and supported private sector corporations on their efforts to achieve stakeholder engagement, partnership-building and facilitate the achievement of company goals. Before joining the government of Panama, she founded the Global Shapers hub of Panama City, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Mrs. Saint Malo has been a champion in sponsoring issues related to transparency in Latin America and gender equality, appointed expert to the Global Agenda Council on Transparency (2014) by the World Economic Forum and leading the Latin American and Caribbean UN Women-ILO-OECD initiative “Equal Pay International Coalition” and the IDB-WEF Gender Parity Taskforce. Following the completion of her government mandate, she was invited as a fellow of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University in 2019 and led a semester long study group on the Sustainable Development Goals and later joined the Advanced Leadership Initiative of the Harvard Business School in 2022, in a one-year program designed to unleash the potential of experienced leaders to solve society ́s most pressing problems. Her career began at the Mission of Panama to the United Nations in New York as one of the youngest delegates to the Third Committee and then served at the United Nations Development Program Office in Panama from 1994 to 2009 on governance, poverty and sustainability issues, rising to manage the program portfolio.

Juan Carlos Pinzón

Former Minister of Defense and Former Ambassador of Colombia to the United States

Carlos Díaz-Rosillo

Director of the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom, Florida International University

Carrie Filipetti

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary and Deputy Special Representative for Venezuela

Carrie Filipetti currently serves as the executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition. Prior to this role, Filipetti served as deputy assistant secretary for Cuba and Venezuela in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and the deputy special representative for Venezuela at the US Department of State, for which she received a Superior Honor Award. From 2019-2020, Filipetti also served as the senior advisor to the Havana Incidents Task Force, where she was responsible for coordinating an inter-agency effort to address the causes of unexplained health incidents affecting US personnel, and identifying proper long-term care mechanisms. Prior to these roles, Filipetti served as a senior policy advisor for the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN), where she advised US Ambassador Nikki R. Haley on issues related to counterterrorism, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.

Filipetti began her career spending five years at a private family foundation, where she served as director of portfolio management. In this capacity, Filipetti helped oversee the foundation’s transition from a relationship-driven organization to a national leader in strategic philanthropy. Also in her capacity as director of the foundation, Filipetti served as a senior advisor and co-founder of Start-Up Nation Central, a Tel-Aviv based non-profit that seeks to connect the world with Israeli innovation.

Filipetti graduated with a degree in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia as both a Jefferson and Echol’s scholar.

Maria Molina

Washington correspondent for LA FM of RCN Radio & political reporter for Univision News Network

Maria Molina is an experienced news correspondent and anchor who currently serves as the Washington correspondent for LA FM of RCN Radio in Colombia and as a political reporter for Univision News Network. Since 2015, she has lived in Washington, D.C., where she has worked as a senior correspondent for NTN24 and other Hispanic media outlets, covering daily political affairs from the White House, Congress, the OAS, and other key venues in the U.S. capital. Maria has reported on several U.S. presidential elections, conducting exclusive interviews with political figures and covering the conventions where presidential candidates are officially selected. 

She specializes in Hispanic issues in the U.S., multilateral relations in the region, and migration. Recently, with NTN24, she produced the documentary "Fronteras de Incertidumbre," which followed the journey of migrants from different countries in the region seeking asylum in the U.S. 

Maria has also served as Communications Director for the Colombian Embassies in Spain and the U.S. during the administrations of Presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Iván Duque. Before moving to Washington, she lived in Spain, where she was Chief Correspondent for W Radio. She has been a special envoy to political and cultural events across five continents, producing special reports from places like Cuba, Egypt, China, and Pakistan during critical moments in their histories. 

A native of Colombia, Maria was chosen as one of the 100 most outstanding Colombians living abroad in a ceremony presided over by President Juan Manuel Santos in 2013. She holds a master's degree in Reporting and Investigation from TRACOR and San Pablo CEU University in Spain. 

Ivonne A-Baki

Ambassador of the Republic of Ecuador to France

Eduardo Vergara

Undersecretary of Crime Prevention, Republic of Chile

Alejandra Mora Mora

Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Women, Organization of American States