Jorge Familiar
Jorge Familiar has been World Bank Vice President for the Latin America and Caribbean since May 2014. In his current position, Familiar leads relations with 31 countries and the core of his vision for the region is the eradication of extreme poverty and the promotion of shared prosperity through the creation of opportunities for all Latin Americans. Previously, Familiar served as Vice President and Corporate Secretary (2010–2014) and as Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director (2004–2008) of the World Bank Group representing Spain, Mexico, Central America and Venezuela. He was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Instituto del Fondo Nacional para el Consumo de los Trabajadores (Instituto FONACOT), a public financial institution in Mexico committed to financial inclusion. Familiar started his career in the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), Mexico’s banking and securities regulator, where he became Vice Chairman of Securities and Derivatives Markets Supervision, was a member of the Governing Board, and was instrumental in the issuance of key laws such as the Securities Market Law (2005) and the Investment Fund Law (2001). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Finance from the Instituto Technológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
Danilo Astori
Danilo Astori is the Uruguayan Minister of Economy and Finance and prior to assuming the position he served as Vice President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. He was also the Minister of Economy and Finance (2005-2008) and Senator (1990-2005). Astori, a Public Accountant and Economist by the University of the Republic, holds an honorary doctorate from the National University of Santa Fe, Argentina, and another from the National University of Vietnam. In 2014, he was decorated by the Government of Chile with the Bernando O’Higgins Order - Great Cross. Has been largely associated to the academic sector as a professor and as Dean of the School of Economics of the University of the Republic first in 1973 and later during the period 1985-1989. In 1978 he founded, along with other researchers, the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies - Uruguay (CIEDUR), a non-governmental organization which contributes to the country’s sustainable development through development research and studies. During the 1980s he carried out a number of journalistic articles of economic analysis in the media, while throughout his career he has published several research articles and papers on the Uruguayan economy.
Santiago Peña Palacios
Santiago Peña Palacios is the Paraguayan Minister of Finance. Peña has a graduate degree in Economics from the Catholic University of Asunción (2001) and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbia University, New York. He taught Economic Theory at the Catholic University of Asunción. His professional career began as an analyst with the Industrial Development Fund in 1999. He then served as an economist at the Central Bank of Paraguay from 2000 until 2009. He was an economist at the IMF focusing on West Africa until 2012. Upon his return to Paraguay he was named member of the Board of Directors the Central Bank and led the team, which prepared the Financial Inclusion Strategy, which was launched in December 2014. In January 2015, he was appointed Minister of Hacienda. At 36, he is one of the region’s youngest Minister of Finance.
Alfonso Prat-Gay
Alfonso Prat-Gay is the Minister of Finance of Argentina since December 2015. He studied economics at the Catholic University of Argentina, where he graduated with honors in 1988, and completed a Master’s degree in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. Prat-Gay served as National Deputy for the City of Buenos Aires (2009-2013) and was president of the Central Bank of Argentina (2002-2004) during the presidencies of Eduardo Duhalde and Nestor Kirchner. During his career he worked for J.P. Morgan in New York, London and Buenos Aires. He also teaches postgraduate courses at the Torcuato Di Tella University and is a member of the Academic Council of the School of Economic Sciences of the Catholic University of Argentina. He created and chaired the ANDARES Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting microfinance.
Luis-Felipe López-Calva
Luis-Felipe López-Calva, co-Director of the World Development Report 2017 Governance and the Law, holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Boston University and a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Prior to his co-Director position, he was Lead Economist and Regional Poverty Advisor in the Europe and Central Asia region, and until 2013 was Lead Economist in the Poverty, Equity and Gender Unit in the Latin America and Caribbean PREM Directorate at the World Bank. López-Calva served as Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from 2007 to 2010. He has been an Ivy League Exchange Scholar in the Economics Department at Harvard University, as well as Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Development at Stanford University and the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) in Helsinki. In Mexico, he was Associate Professor and Chair of the Masters in Public Economicsat Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, and he also taught at Universidad de las Américas Puebla and El Colegio de México. He is a Fellow of the Human Development and Capabilities Association and Associate Editor of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. His publications and research interests focus on labor markets, poverty and inequality, institutions and development economics.
Michael Reid
Michael Reid writes the Bello column of The Economist on Latin America and is the newspaper’s writer-at-large for the region. He joined The Economist in 1990 and moved to São Paulo in 1996 to be the Bureau Chief for the next three years. He returned to London in 1999 as Americas Editor, a post he held until December 2013. His books include Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul (2007) and Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power (2014), which were both published by Yale University Press. Reid is a frequent speaker on Latin American and Iberian affairs to business, academic and public-policy audiences. He has given evidence to the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate and to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons. He is also a frequent guest on television, radio and print outlets globally.
Mario Bergara
Mario Bergara is the President of the Central Bank of Uruguay since April 2015 and also from November 2008 to December 2013. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a degree in Economics and Public Accounting from the Faculty of Economics and Administration at Universidad de la República in Uruguay. Bergara previously served as Minister of Economy and Finance from 2013 to 2015 and as Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance between 2005 and 2008. He was also Head of Economic Studies of the Central Bank of Uruguay and Director of Regulatory Communications Services Unit (URSEC) between 2001 and 2005. He was awarded the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Prize from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. Bergara has published books and articles on institutional economics, regulation of public utilities, and the banking economy, nationally and internationally. His most recent book is The New Rules of the Game in Uruguay, Incentives and Institutions in a Decade of Reforms.
Jesko Hentschel
Jesko Hentschel is the World Bank’s Country Director in Latin America’s Southern Cone, responsible for the knowledge and financial operations of the Bank in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. He holds graduate degrees in social policy, as well as agricultural and international economics from the London School of Economics, the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and the University of Konstanz (Germany). A German national, Jesko joined the World Bank more than twenty years ago and has focused on poverty reduction, employment and human development during various assignments with the Bank. He was the Deputy Director of the World Bank’s flagship World Development Report 2013 on Jobs (2013) in which a new framework for understanding jobs and employment was introduced, using a public economics lens and taking employment beyond labor market analysis proper. Prior to this, Hentschel worked as a consultant in the Inter-American Development Bank, the Department for International Development (UK) and several UN organizations. He was also a lecturer in development economics at the University of Potsdam (Germany). Jesko has published articles and books on skills development, employment policy, the combination of qualitative and quantitative social science research methods, poverty measurement and equity.
Eduardo Engel
Eduardo Engel is Professor of Economics at the University of Chile and President of the Chilean independent think tank, Espacio Público. Engel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford University, and an engineering degree from the University of Chile. He was a full Professor of Economics at Yale University between 2001 and 2012, and during that time was voted Teacher of the Year on four occasions. Engel has published widely in the areas of macroeconomics, public finance, and regulation, and was awarded the Econometric Society’s 2002 Frisch Medal. He has been a consultant with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank, and various ministries and government agencies in Latin America. His current research interests include dynamic macroeconomic models, private participation in infrastructure, and wage distribution dynamics. He authors a bi-weekly op-ed for the Sunday edition of La Tercera.
Fernando Carrera
Ambassador Luis Fernando Carrera Castro served as the Guatemalan Ambassador to the UN from 2014 to 2015, and was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala from 2013 to 2014. He has a B.A. in Economics from the National University of Costa Rica and an M.A. in Economics and Development Politics from the University of Cambridge, U.K. He is an economist specializing in fiscal policy and political analysis, and served as the official Secretary of Planning and Programming in Guatemala. From 1993 to 1994, he was Director of Research at the Latin America Regional Office of International Co-operative Alliance (ICA). Between 1994 and 2007, Carrera Castro held a number of positions in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ultimately serving as the organization’s Adjunct Representative in Ecuador, and as its Representative in Cape Verde and Panama. Following his tenure at UNICEF, he served as Executive Director of the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) and later as Executive Director of the Soros Foundation in Guatemala.
Pablo Ferreri
Pablo Ferreri is Vice Minister of Economy and Finance in Uruguay since March 2015 and was the General Director of the Revenue and General Tax Directorate (DGI) from 2010 to 2014. A public accountant, Ferreri graduated from the School of Economics and Administration of the University of the Republic, Uruguay, and holds a Master’s degree in Tax Law from the University of Montevideo. He served as president of the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) (2010-2011). Ferreri currently teaches courses at the School of Economics and Administration of the University of the Republic and the University of Montevideo.
Rafael M. Di Tella
Rafael M. Di Tella is Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1990 from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and a D. Phil. in Economics from Oxford University in 1996. Di Tella joined Harvard Business School in July 1997, where he has taught Business History and courses on the business environment, as well as an elective course on Institutions and Macroeconomics. His areas of research include the political economy, with a focus on institutional development, measures of happiness and how they can inform government policies on issues that range from the incidence of inequality to the inflation-unemployment tradeoff, and the causes of illegal behavior, with applications to corruption and crime.
Daniel Boyce
Daniel Boyce is Practice Manager, Public Resource Mobilization and Management, Latin America and the Caribbean (LCR) region, Governance Global Practice, World Bank. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Boyce is responsible for overseeing quality in the World Bank’s fiduciary work and the capacity building activities conducted by financial management staff in the LCR region. As Practice Manager, his duties include leadership of the public accounting and financial reporting initiatives in the region.
Robert G. Eccles
Robert G. Eccles, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, is the world’s foremost expert on integrated reporting and a global thought leader on how companies and investors can create sustainable strategies. Eccles received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and in Humanities and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1973), as well as a Masters of Arts (1975) and Ph.D. in Sociology (1979) from Harvard University. He is the Founding Chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and a founder of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Prof. Eccles was selected as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior in 2011 and again in 2012 for his extensive positive contribution to building trust in business. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Apolinar Veloz
Apolinar Veloz is a Senior Economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Santo Domingo Autonomous University (UASD), a Master’s degree in Economics from the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico, and a post-graduate certificate in Global Planning and Economic Policy at the Latin American Institute for Social and Economic Planning (ILPES)- ECLAC in Santiago, Chile. Veloz served as Vice-Minister of Finance of the Dominican Republic, General Manager of the Central Bank, Economic Advisor to the Senate, and as Director of the Department of Economics at the state-owned commercial bank, Banco de Reservas. He was the Resident Fiscal Advisor to the Economic Committee of the East-Timor Parliament, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the International Monetary Fund’s Macro-fiscal Advisor to the Ministry of Finance in Equatorial Guinea.
Edwin Lau
Edwin Lau is Head of the Reform of the Public Sector Division, Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate, of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation Development (OECD). He holds a Master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Diploma of Advanced Studies from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). Lau has a background in public sector budgeting, performance management, and digital government, and his work at the OECD covers public sector innovation, digital government, open data, human resources management, and risk management. He oversees the statistical publication, Government at a Glance, and the Observatory for Public Sector Innovation (OPSI). Lau previously served as Deputy Division Head of the OECD Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division.
Arturo Herrera
Arturo Herrera Gutiérrez is Practice Manager for Public Sector Performance, Latin America and the Caribbean region, Governance Global Practice, World Bank. His team has operations and projects in 27 countries in the region ranging from public financial management, tax administration, and quasi-fiscal activities, to justice service strengthening and citizen participation. Prior to joining the Bank, Herrera worked in Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and also served as General Director for Financial Management and then as Secretary of Finance in the Government of Mexico City. His expertise includes public financial management, tax administration, subnational governance, and inter-fiscal relationships. Herrera taught monetary theory and policy and macro- and micro-economics at both El Colegio de Mexico and New York University, where he did his doctoral studies in Economics.
Andrés Ibarra
Andrés Ibarra is Minister of Modernisation of the Nation in Argentina since December 2015. He holds a degree in economics from the Catholic University of Argentina, and attended the postgraduate Executive Program in Strategy and Organization from Stanford University. Prior to his most recent appointment, he served in the Government of Argentina in various capacities including as Minister of Modernization of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Secretary of Human Resources of the Ministry of Finance, and Secretary of Education for the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Ibarra has taught at the Catholic University of Argentina, and has spoken at various conferences in Argentina and overseas. He is co-author of Passion and Management and together with Mauricio Macri wrote Buenos Aires for Argentines. Smart City that is Building The Future, which examines the modernization of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
Ximena Puente de la Mora
Ximena Puente de la Mora is President Commissioner of the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) in Mexico. She has a law degree from the University of Colima, Masters of Law from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and Doctorate of Law from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. As a lawyer, academic and researcher she has specialized in issues of transparency and accountability for over 10 years. Between 2003 and 2014, Puente de la Mora was a full-time professor and researcher at the School of Law of the University of Colima. Also, she has served as a specialist in a number of events related to transparency, access to information, data protection, and information technology in Canada, Chile, Italy, Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and other countries.
Ariel Fiszbein
Ariel Fiszbein, Director of the Education Program at the Inter-American Dialogue, holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Dialogue, Fiszbein was Chief Economist for the Human Development Network at the World Bank, where he helped develop strategies for global initiatives on education, health, nutrition, population, social protection, and labor. He has over 20 years of experience working on education and other social policy issues in Latin America and globally.
João Veiga Malta
João Veiga Malta is Practice Manager, Public Integrity and Openness, Latin America and the Caribbean region (LCR), Governance Global Practice, World Bank Group. He holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Procurement from Curtin University, Western Australia. Veiga Malta is an internationally recognized procurement reform and e-Procurement specialist and has worked or consulted for the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union (EU), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and various governments in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia. Prior to his current position, he managed the World Bank’s procurement reform team as Manager of the Procurement Program in the World Bank’s Operations Policy and Country Services Unit, and previously served as the Procurement Manager of East and Southern Africa. Veiga Malta’s assignments outside the Bank include Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) Program Coordinator at the IADB and International Project Director, e-Projects, in the Department of Industry and Technology of the Government of Western Australia.
María Margarita Zuleta
María Margarita Zuleta is Director General of Colombia Compra Eficiente. She complete her undergraduate studies at the Center for International Studies at the Ortega y Gasset Foundation in Toledo, Spain, and has a law degree from the School of Law of the University of the Andes. Zuleta was Deputy Minister of Justice for Colombia between 2002 and 2003, and subsequently participated in the joint commission between the district government of Mayors Mockus and Garzón in the field of Security and Coexistence. In January 2004, she rejoined the national government as Director of the Presidential Program to Combat Corruption, and was in charge of legal affairs and government relations CI Prodeco from September 2005 to April 2012. She is co-author of the book Corruption, The Brain, and Feelings: A Neuropsychological Study on Corruption (2007).
Decio Coviello
Decio Coviello is Associate Professor of Applied Economics at École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal (HEC Montréal) and specializes in the areas of political economy, procurement, labor, and organizational economics. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the European University Institute, Florence, in 2009 and was a post-doctoral research fellow from 2010 to 2011 in the Department of Economics of Harvard University. Coviello has published extensively and has consulted for the World Bank.
John Ivil
John Ivil is the General Manager Government Procurement at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in New Zealand. He holds a Master’s degree in Management Studies from the University of New South Wales where he majored in Project Management. He is responsible for the New Zealand Government’s procurement policy, capability and capacity development, collaborative procurement (including all-of-government contracts) and the establishment of a commercial pool of procurement resources to assist government agencies. He has previously managed the ‘Cost Savings’ work stream of the New Zealand Government Procurement Reform Program, and during that time has identified over $350 million in savings. Prior to working across New Zealand’s public sector in management roles, he served in the New Zealand Army for 21 years.
Daniel Lederman
In May 2013 Daniel Lederman became Lead Economist and Deputy Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Bank. Previously he served as Lead Trade Economist in the World Bank’s International Trade Department (PRMTR), Senior Economist in the Development Research Group (DECRG), and Senior Economist and Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining the World Bank in 1995, he worked for the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. An economist and political scientist by training, Mr. Lederman has published numerous books and articles on a broad set of issues related to economic development, including financial crises, crime, political economy of economic reforms, economic growth, innovation, international trade and labor markets. His research has been published in the American Economic Review, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Economics and Politics, Journal of International Business Studies, among many others. Daniel Lederman holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and M.A. and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He was born in Santiago, Chile, on February 17, 1968.
Uwe Deichmann
Uwe Deichmann, co-Director of the World Development Report 2016 Digital Dividends and a researcher in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, holds a Ph.D. in Economic Geography and Regional Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His recent research examines the role of infrastructure in promoting regional growth, urban development, and the impact of natural hazards and global change on economic development. Deichmann was also principal author of the World Development Report 2009 Reshaping Economic Geography. Prior to joining the World Bank he worked for the United Nations (UN) Environment Program and the UN Statistics Division.
Miguel Brechner Frey
Miguel Brechner Frey is President of the Directors Council of the Plan Ceibal since 2007. He has a degree in Electronic Engineering from Kings College at the University of London and has a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Imperial College at the University of London. He also graduated as an Electricity Engineer by the Facultad de Ingeniería from the Universidad de la República in Uruguay. For over 25 years he was devoted to the search and application of new technologies developing businesses of information technology and telecommunications in Uruguay. Between 2005 and 2010 he was President of LATU (Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay), a government institution devoted to the development of the country through innovation and technology transfer. It was from his role in that organism that he was inspired by OLPC (One Laptop per Child) and proposed the implementation of the Plan Ceibal, a socio-educational program that gave international recognition to Uruguay in three fundamental aspects: equity, learning and technology. Today, Brechner is President of Centro Ceibal, an institution specially created by the Parliament in 2010 for the implementation of programs to support children in public education. He is also a Board Member of the Agency of Innovation and of LATU.
José Clastornik
José Clastornik is the Director of the Agency for Electronic Government and Information Society of the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay since its inception; an institution responsible for development of the digital policy of the country, and for design of the e-government strategy and key projects. He is a civil engineer who graduated from the University of the Republic, and obtained a Master’s degree in Structural Civil Engineering at the Technion Institute in Israel. In order to promote higher levels of confidence in the use of ICT, he is responsible for issues focused on information security, electronic certification, data protection and Internet governance. Previously, he served as Manager of HG (a corporation of the state telecommunications company ANTEL) and held management positions in multinational companies such as America Business and IBM.
Daniel Jiménez Muñoz
Daniel Jiménez Muñoz is the General Manager of Public Administration and Corporate Customers at Telefónica for Latin America. The unit of Public Administration and Corporate Customers in Latin America deals with 36.000 customers grouped in 8.000 holdings in 16 countries with a dedicated team of 12.000 professionals working in different areas of the company. Among his responsibilities, Jiménez Muñoz, leads the commercial transformation of the Telefónica Group to assist its clients in both the Public and the Private Sector with their challenges, the dissemination of the strategy to support governments in their digital agendas, the promotion of the digitalization of Enterprises and the boost of the mobilization of process and high transmission capacity data networks to increase productivity. He resides in São Paulo (Brazil), is 42 years old, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and a Master in Business Administra-tion from the IESE Business School. Jiménez Muñoz was also a Professor at the IE Business School and at CUNEF. He currently, collaborates with SEBRAE as a business mentor in technology for SMEs in the State of Paraná in Brazil.
Lisa L. Bhansali
Lisa Bhansali is an Adviser in the Public Integrity and Openness Directorate of the Governance Global Practice of the World Bank. Ms, Bhansali received her Bachelor in Arts and Sciences from the University of Michigan, holds a Masters in Public Policy from Columbia University, and studied law at Georgetown University. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the District of Columbia, and before the United States Supreme Court. Bhansali’s work in the Latin America and Caribbean region focuses on anticorruption and risk management, rule of law and justice reform, civil service and public administration, decentralization, and institutional strengthening. She has been the Task Manger of several projects and analytical studies in a number of regions such as Africa, Eastern Europe and East Asia. She also served as a Senior Counsel in the World Bank Group’s Legal Vice-Presidency. She was recently named a Wasserstein Fellow in Public Interest Law at Harvard Law School and is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches Rule of Law and the Administration of Justice. From 1996 to 2001, she worked at the Inter-American Development Bank on Modernization of the State projects. She has also worked for the Open Society Institute and served as a Political Affairs Officer in the United Nations. Bhansali has also published such works as Measuring the Impact of Criminal Justice Reform in Latin America (Carnegie Endowment), Engendering Justice: a Gender Assessment’s Impact on Project Design (World Bank), and Procedural Shortcomings in the Defense of Human Rights: An Inequality of Arms (Harris & Livingstone, eds.).
Nelson Shack
Nelson Shack Yalta, is coordinator of the Peru Justice Services Improvement Projects I & II, and oversees several other donor-financed projects within the Judiciary of Peru and other justice sector agencies of the country. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Chile, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific in Peru, and a Specialization in Municipal Management from ESAN University. He previously served as General Director of Economic and Social Affairs at the Ministry of Economy and Finance and National Director of Public Budget of Peru. Mr. Shack is an international consultant and has worked for the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the European Commission, and the Economic Commission for Latin America in a dozen countries of the region. His areas of focus include program-based budgeting and budgeting for results, multiyear programming, medium term fiscal frameworks, participatory budgeting, strategic planning, investment programming, and performance audits.
Marta Herrera
Marta Herrera has been the Director of the Specialized Anti-corruption Unit of the Attorney General’s Office in Chile since 2007. She studied law at the University of Chile (1993-1997) and became a licensed attorney in 2000. She has taught several courses and seminars at the University of Chile’s School of Law, and published a number of studies in journals such as the Law Journal of the Catholic University of Valparaiso and the Judicial Journal of the Attorney General’s Office.
Carla Bacigalupo
Carla Bacigalupo is the Minister of Justice of Paraguay and is currently on leave from the Criminal Court No. 2 of Asunción, where she served as a judge. She holds a Master’s degree in Criminal Science from the National University of Asunción, a diploma in Access to Justice from the Organization of American States (OAS) and a Specialization in Tax Law from the Center for Fiscal Studies of Paraguay. Throughout her career in the Judiciary, Minister Bacigalupo has served in various capacities, including in the Ministry of Justice as Legal Director General and Deputy Minister of Criminal Policy. She also worked in the Attorney General’s Office as a prosecutor of legal issues involving Constitutional, Labor, Civil, and Administrative laws.
Santiago Otamendi
Santiago Otamendi is Secretary of Justice in the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Argentina. He is also a Professor at the Higher Institute of Public Security of the Metropolitan Police and the Federal Argentinian Judicial Schools Network of the Federal Board of Courts (REFLEJAR). Previously, Otamendi held various positions in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, including the post of Secretary General of Access to Justice and Human Rights at the Attorney General’s Office, Counselor of the Judicial Council of the City, and Judge at the Criminal, Felony and Misdemeanors Court. In addition, Otamendi was Director of International Relations of the Argentinian Federation of the Judiciary, Fellow of the US State Department, Adviser on Judicial Reform at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in Argentina and Senior Counsel of the National Commission for Transport Regulation. He was Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedural Law at the Catholic University of Argentina and is Founding Partner of the Association “United for Civil Justice”.
Varun Gauri
Varun Gauri is Head of the Global Insights Initiative (GINI), a Senior Economist with the Development Research Group of the World Bank, and was co-Director of the 2015 World Development Report Mind, Society and Behavior. He has Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and has held positions as Visiting Lecturer in Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and Visiting Professor in the Department of Economics at Instituto Latinoamericano de Doctrina y Estudios Sociales (ILADES) in Santiago, Chile. Gauri’s current research addresses three themes: how to use behavioral insights to enhance development policy; when public agencies comply with human rights orders; and why individuals support public goods. He is the author of School Choice in Chile: Two Decades of Educational Reform (1999) in addition to over 40 articles and book chapters.
Maryantonett Flumian
Maryantonett Flumian is President of the Institute on Governance, Canada, and is responsible for the development of the Institute’s vision and strategic direction, project and partnership development, and the fostering of programs to promote public discussion of governance issues. She holds a Master’s degree in History and completed comprehensive exams towards a Ph.D. in History at the University of Ottawa. Flumian is a seasoned senior executive at the deputy minister level in the Canadian federal public service with more than 20 years of large-scale operational experience in the economic, social, and federal/provincial domains. She is internationally recognized for her work as a transformational leader across many complex areas of public policy and administration such as labor markets, firearms, fisheries, and environmental issues. Her current research focuses on leadership, collaboration, governance, and the game-changing potential of technology.
Virgilio Andrade
Virgilio Andrade Martinez is Minister of the Public Administration in Mexico, and has a law degree from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Public Policy from Columbia University. Andrade has had an extensive career in the private and public sectors and has served as the Head of the Federal Regulatory Improvement Commission (COFEMER) in the Ministry of Economy; electoral adviser at the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) (2003-2010); Technical Secretary of both Banrural and Financiera Rural (2002 -2003); Director General for Analysis of Financial Legislation in the Ministry of Finance (2001-2002; Chief of Staff of the Chief Clerk of the Ministry of the Interior (1999-2000); and internal auditor of the company Procesar. He also worked in the oil company, Pemex, in the Office of the President of the Republic at various periods, and in the Mexican Chambers of Deputies and Senate. He has also been a professor at ITAM and the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM).
Geoffrey Cohen
Geoffrey Cohen is James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business and a Professor in the Department of Psychology of Stanford University. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Cornell University (1992) and his doctorate in Psychology from Stanford University (1998). His research examines processes related to identity maintenance and their implications for social problems. One primary aim of his research is the development of theory-driven, rigorously tested intervention strategies that further our understanding of the processes underpinning social problems and that offer solutions to alleviate them. Two key questions lie at the core of his research: “Given that a problem exists, what are its underlying processes?” And, “Once identified, how can these processes be overcome?” One reason for this interest in intervention is his belief that a useful way to understand psychological processes and social systems is to try to change them.
Deborah Wetzel
Deborah Wetzel is the Senior Director for the Governance Global Practice. Most recently, Ms. Wetzel was the Director of Strategy and Operations for the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank from August 2015 to March 2016. She also served as World Bank Country Director for Brazil from April 2012 to July 2015. Prior to her assignment in Brazil, Ms. Wetzel worked as the World Bank Group’s Chief of Staff in Washington from 2012 to 2014. She has also served as Director for Governance and Public Sector in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, directing the Bank’s work on taxation, public expenditures, decentralization, public sector reform and strengthening governance and anti-corruption. Ms. Wetzel began her career at the World Bank in 1986 as a Consultant, joining the Young Professionals Program in 1993. She also worked at the Centre for the Study of African Economies in Oxford, England in the early 1990s. During her career, she has worked in Central and Eastern Europe, Ghana, Hungary, Ukraine, Vietnam, Russia, the former Soviet Republics, West Africa and Zambia. Ms. Wetzel has a D.Phil in Economics from the University of Oxford and a Masters in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. Her BA is from Smith College. She is the author of publications on fiscal decentralization, public finance, governance, and sub-national affairs.
Mitchell A. Seligson
Mitchell A. Seligson is the Centennial Professor of Political Science and Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University and serves as a member of the General Assembly of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. He is also the founder and Senior Advisor of the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), which conducts the AmericasBarometer surveys. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Seligson held the Daniel H. Wallace Chair of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and has received grants and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. He served on the National Academy of Sciences panel studying the impact of foreign assistance and democracy, and is an appointed member of the Organization of American States (OAS) Advisory Board of Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices.
Mari Kiviniemi
Mari Kiviniemi is Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD Secretariat since August 2014. She studied political science at the University of Helsinki and also holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences. In her current position, her role consists of sharing her extensive experience to help increase the impact and relevance of the OECD’s work and to contribute to the public policy challenges of promoting inclusive growth, jobs, equality, and trust. Kiviniemi is responsible for the strategic oversight of the OECD’s work on efficient and effective governance, territorial development, trade and agriculture, as well as statistics. She is also responsible for advancing the Better Life Initiative. Kiviniemi was Prime Minister of Finland from 2010 to 2011. Elected for the first time at the age of 26, Kiviniemi was a Member of Parliament from 1995 to 2014, and was Special Advisor on Economic Policy to the Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Trade and Development, Minister of European Affairs, and Minister of Public Administration and Local Government.
Kevin Casas-Zamora
Kevin Casas-Zamora is Senior Fellow and Director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. He holds a law degree from the University of Costa Rica, a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Essex, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Oxford. He was previously Secretary for Political Affairs at the Organization of American States (OAS) and non-resident Senior Fellow with the Foreign Policy Program’s Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution. From 2006 to 2007, Casas-Zamora served as second Vice President and Minister of National Planning in Costa Rica. He was also general coordinator of Costa Rica’s award-winning National Human Development Report for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He is the author of highly regarded studies on campaign finance, elections, democratic governance, and citizen security in Latin America. In 2007, Casas-Zamora was selected as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Aroldo Cedraz
Aroldo Cedraz is President of the Federal Court of Accounts of Brazil (TCU) since 2015 and has served as Minister of the TCU in different roles since 2007. He has a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the Tierärztliche Hochschule, Hannover, a Master’s degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Federal University of Santa Maria, and a Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Federal University of Bahia. From 1991 to 2007, Cedraz completed four mandates as Federal Deputy of the State of Bahia holding positions that included: Industry, Commerce and Mining Secretary of the State of Bahia; Secretary of Water Supply and Irrigation Resources of the State of Bahia; Chief Secretary of the City of Salvador Civil House; and President of the Rural Engineering Company of the State of Bahia. During this time he advanced the health, education, defense, science and technology, external relations, and mines and energy agendas. Cedraz is also a Professor for Medicine and Public Health at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) since 1974, where he acted as Advisor for the Department of Research and Post-Graduate Education from 1984 to 1986.
Luis Porto
Luis Porto is the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Organizational Development of the Organization of American States (OAS). He previously served as Vice Minister of Economy and Finance from August 2011 to April 2013, and as Deputy Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay from May 2013 to March 1, 2015. He has worked as a senior consultant at both the national (in both the public and private sectors) and international level. Additionally, he has held the following positions: Board Member of the Institute of Economics of the Faculty of Economics and Management; Member of the Honorary Advisory Committee of the National Quality Institute; Board Member of EMPRETEC, Uruguay.
Mercedes Barriocanal
Mercedes Barriocanal is a Paraguayan journalist with more than 30 years in radio and television. She has led several investigative reporting and political analysis programs and is currently the anchor for the main newscast on Channel 4 News, Telefuturo of Asuncion. She is a renowned activist for children’s rights and education, a commitment recognized by UNICEF, which granted her the title of UNICEF Ambassador in Paraguay.
