FT Innovate Latin America 2016

Amanda Barkus is the Head of IT Strategy and Delivery Operations for the Software Engineering division of MetLife. She has 17 years of experience building technology solutions for financial services in the US and Latin America. Ms Barkus started her career in New York City working for Tibco, where she did middleware and market data implementations for investment banking firms. She later moved to Thomson Reuters where she was as a consultant on foreign exchange and equities trading technology. In 2004, she joined HSBC’s investment bank and spent 11 years in a variety of roles, including Head of Software Development for HSBC Mexico, IT Head of US Transformation Programs, and Chief of Staff to the CIO of the Americas.

Christian Glauser Benz serves as Vice President at Oppenheim Architecture, where he oversees the the implementation of the firm's global strategy and innovative efforts. He is also responsible for Oppenheim’s real estate consultancy platform, a turnkey service for the luxury residential, retail, commercial/interior and hospitality sectors. Building on the firm’s track record designing high profile luxury projects around the world, Oppenheim’s consultancy provides investors around the world with pre-development feasibility studies, real estate investment advisory, and architectural design solutions. Clients include investors, family offices, UHNWI, capital groups, luxury hotel brand operators and institutional groups. Prior to joining Oppenheim Architecture, Mr Benz was a Vice President at Jones Lang LaSalle, a Fortune 500 real estate company, overseeing the firm’s luxury hospitality developments for the West Coast and Hawaii. Mr Benz began his career collaborating with famed architects Cesar Pelli in New York and Frank Gehry in Los Angeles. He was a part of the design team for the new Novartis global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, the Science Library at Princeton University, the Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York, and the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. He holds a graduate degree in Architecture from Columbia University and a Master’s in Finance from the University of Geneva.

Jaime Bueno Miranda is currently an Advisor to the President of Colombia on Competitiveness and Innovation. His career began in the Banking Association of Colombia’s Department of Economic Analysis. He then joined the Finance Ministry, as Deputy Chief and then Chief of the Minister’s Economic Advisory Office. Later, he was appointed Director General of National Revenue. After completing his studies at Harvard University, Mr Bueno moved into the private sector with the consulting firm Deloitte, of which he was Colombia president for several years. He then joined KPMG as Colombia president, a responsibility he held for 23 years. After this, for six years, he acted as an external advisor of KPMG and led the Colombia ACI Global Initiative Advisory Board. Mr Bueno has also served in the Private Competitiveness Council (CPC), the National Association of Colombia (ANDI), the Colombian Institute of Administration (INCOLDA), the North American Business Council, the Colombo-American Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá. He has also been a Professor of Economics and Public Finance at Universidad de los Andes and Javeriana University. He has co-edited books on tax and board matters, and has written opinion columns for the newspaper El Tiempo. Mr Bueno has an Economics degree from Javeriana University, a Master's in Economics from Syracuse University in the US, and a Master’s in Public Finance from Harvard.

Michelangelo Cestari began his culinary career at an early age at CEGA, the Gastronomic Studies Center of Caracas in Venezuela, then progressed rapidly to serve in some of the most renowned kitchens across Europe. Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxford, Au-Crocodile in Strasbourg, and Geranium and Relæ in Copenhagen were his main influences. Mr Cestari arrived in La Paz in 2012 to become responsible, together with his partner Kamilla Seidler, for Claus Meyer’s ambitious dream of boosting Bolivia as a gastronomic landmark. Among his achievements is the establishment of Gustu Gastronomía S.A., a small conglomerate of culinary and gastronomic commercial activities focused on CSR policies. Gustu Gastronomía owns the fine dining restaurant Gustu, the cocktail bar and lounge GustuBar, and bakery, pastry and delicatessen group GustuDeli. Mr Cestari was also involved in establishing the canteens and food schools’ chain Manq’a, the street food tour Suma Phayata, and the gastronomic and culinary event Tambo.

Dayra Chiu believes technology can positively impact people’s lives. She gets involved with transformative projects and the people that lead them. At Women Who Code, she is working with an amazing team in Mexico City who inspire women to connect and create technology.

Sergio Colmenares’ main goal is to seek out people with innovative ideas and generate co-financing projects with national entities in order to create long-term solutions and development for his region. After studying industrial engineering at Universidad Libre Seccional Cucuta in Colombia, he traveled through several countries in Europe, including Spain, Greece, Germany and Denmark, and in the Americas, mainly the US and Brazil. He visited innovative companies in construction materials, the metallurgical industry, brewing, motorcycles, auto assembly, and technology solutions. This led him to think about innovations that he could bring about in the company his father founded in 1989, Tejar San Gerardo SAS. Mr Colmenares thought about the different uses that could be made of the raw material he worked with -- clay, a material abundantly available in the city of Cucuta but unique because of its properties. He began to develop different applications for this material, including cosmetics, and treatment filters for water, grease, oil, and other substances. While carrying out his role as innovation leader at Tejar San Gerardo, Mr Colmenares also works as innovation projects coordinator at Simon Bolivar University.

Julián Domínguez is a Colombian lawyer with extensive experience in private law and financial matters, as well as business management and guild leadership. He has also been a consultant and member of important boards, including, currently, the Colombian Stock Exchange Board and Leasing Bancoldex. Additionally, he oversees the Investment Fund for Peace, is a member of the Advisory Council of Colciencias, serves as Executive President of the Confederation of Colombian Chambers of Commerce (Confecámaras), and is a columnist for several Colombian newspapers, such as El País and Portafolio.

Serge Elkiner is Co-founder and CEO of YellowPepper, an innovative company that provides mobile-banking and payment solutions across Latin America. Under Mr Elkiner’s leadership, YellowPepper is revolutionizing the banking and payments industry, forging partnerships with major banks, financial institutions and business enterprises to make mobile payments a reality. YellowPepper currently provides financial services to more than 5 million monthly users across the region. Building on its success in Latin America, Mr Elkiner moved the company’s headquarters to Miami in 2012. The company recently raised a $15 million Series C venture round, bringing total funding to $33 million. Overall efforts now support the sharpening of the company’s focus on the mobile payments industry with the launch of its latest product, Yepex. Mr Elkiner was also Co-founder and CEO of CorQuest Medical, a company that specializes in developing medical equipment and technologies to facilitate minimally invasive cardiac surgical procedures. This company was sold to Cardio3 BioSciences, a publicly traded Belgian company, in 2014. Prior to YellowPepper, Mr Elkiner served as Vice President of Business Development at HelloTech Technologies, an Israeli firm providing remote monitoring and mobile payment solutions for vending machines. He has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Boston University.

Jorge Familiar has been the World Bank’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean since May 2014. A Mexican national, Mr Familiar is the first Latin American to be appointed to that position in the last 30 years. He leads relations with 31 Latin American and Caribbean countries through a portfolio of ongoing projects, technical assistance and grants worth more than $30 billion. Traditionally, the region has represented slightly above 30 per cent of total lending by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) —the Group window for middle -income countries. Previously, Mr Familiar devoted his efforts to financial inclusion as CEO of Mexico’s Instituto del Fondo Nacional para el Consumo de los Trabajadores (Instituto FONACOT), a public financial institution with more than one million clients and a loan portfolio of more than $1 billion, which grants consumer loans to workers, guarantees their access to finance, and fosters financial literacy.

Entrepreneur, pioneer of workflow software, owner of numerous patents on the action/language approach to software design, author of many books and articles, and cited in over 4,000 publications, Fernando Flores is regarded as a world class expert on how people work together to get things done. Dr Flores’ management breakthroughs led to the establishment of Logonet, an educational corporation; Action Technologies, a software corporation; Business Design Associates, an international consulting company; and Pluralistic Networks, a company that develops leadership and communication abilities in virtual business teams using multi-player online games. He is the co-author with Terry Winograd of Understanding Computers and Cognition, A New Foundation for Design, named Best Information Science Book of 1987 by the American Society for Information Science, and recognized by Byte Magazine as one of the all-time 20 most influential books on Information Technology. Other books include Disclosing New Worlds: Entrepreneurship, Democratic Action and the Cultivation of Solidarity, co-authored with Hubert Dreyfus and Charles Spinosa; and Building Trust, co-authored with Robert Solomon. Dr Flores, a Cabinet minister in the Allende government in the 1970s, later served as a Senator in Chile, and also as President of the Chilean National Innovation Council for Competitiveness. Currently he spends a significant amount of his time working with colleagues in California who are focused on developing learning tools and environments that will enable people to cultivate and thrive in pluralistic networks.

Gilberto García has been a CEMEX executive for 25 years and has served in many different roles in the company’s worldwide operations. Mr García currently leads CEMEX’s digital innovation as Director of the Technology Office. He is currently the driving force behind Shift, a business social networking platform that empowers employees in all CEMEX operations worldwide to interact, share best practices and promote innovation through collaboration. Under his leadership, CEMEX won a Forrester Groundswell award for the best employee management collaboration system; the Management Innovation Exchange for innovating and changing the way the company works; the SuperNova Award in the Future of Work Category; and most recently the Manufacturing Leadership Award as the Most Innovative Company of the Year. Gartner, the Huffington Post, Computer World, MIT Technology Review, Information Week, the Economist Intelligence Unit and Forbes, as well as IBM’s Lotusphere, have all recognized Mr García’s innovation efforts. His previous responsibilities at CEMEX include Strategic Planning and Concrete Operations in Panama, and Processes, Operations and Information Technology in Poland, Austria, Croatia, Latvia and Hungary.

Juliana Gómez Peláez has been Director for Foreign Direct Investment at ProColombia since 2010. ProColombia is an organization responsible for the commercial promotion of Colombia as a destination for foreign direct investment and foreign tourism and as a vendor of non-traditional goods and services. Close to 300 projects with estimated investments of US$5 billion, in sectors ranging from IT/BPO, tourism infrastructure, private equity, manufacturing, mining and agribusiness, have been supported by ProColombia between 2009 and 2015. Ms Gómez began working at ProColombia (formerly Proexport) in 2004 as an Exports Specialist to help Colombian SMEs become international players. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master's in Marketing and Distribution Channels from the Universidad Eafit in Medellin. 

Laura González-Estéfani is the Partnerships Director for Latin America at Facebook. In this role, she helps build strategic partnerships around the mobile ecosystem by working closely on innovative projects with carriers, mobile manufacturers, developers, entrepreneurs and other organizations. Ms González-Estéfani joined Facebook in 2009. Prior to Facebook, she held roles at eBay, Siemens and Ogilvy Group, and co-founded esplaya.com in 2000.

Sonja Hyland is a career diplomat who has served since 2013 as Ambassador of Ireland to Mexico, with concurrent accreditation to El Salvador, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela. She previously served as Director for Trade Promotion in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin, and as Deputy Director for Multilateral Affairs and Irish representative on the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Her previous posts have included Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Ireland in Madrid, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Ireland in Stockholm, and First Secretary at Ireland’s Permanent Mission to the European Union in Brussels.

Noora Laitio is the Co-Founder and CEO of WellEdu Fennica, founded to curate and package the best aspects of the world-leading Finnish Early Childhood Education and Teacher Training systems onto a scalable and easy-to-implement platform, making the top content and methodology from Finland available to thousands of educators and families around the world effectively and economically. Ms Laitio is an expert in impact investments in emerging markets and has 15 years of professional experience in corporate and development finance at IFC (World Bank), the European Investment Bank and the private sector in top investment banks and industry. A certified advisor in corporate finance, she has advised the European Commission, the World Economic Forum, emerging markets private equity funds and the Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership on the nexus of finance and sustainability.

José Luis Londoño Fernández was appointed Deputy for Industrial Property matters by the Superintendent of Industry and Commerce in October 2010. His main achievement has been to make the Colombian Patent Office the second fastest in the world in terms of patent approvals. Mr Londoño started his journey through the IP world as a Trademark Examiner at the Industry and Commerce Supervisory Authority. He then became a Senior Associate at law firm Olarte Raisbeck, where he was in charge of Trademark Prosecution, and litigation regarding IP Infringement, unfair competition and antitrust. Before his current role, he worked as an in-house attorney for IP at the National Federation of Coffee Growers, where he managed the Federation’s worldwide IP portfolio, including the well-known trademarks Juan Valdez and Colombian Coffee. Mr Londoño has been a Member of the Colombian IP Association (ACPI). He is also a Professor at the Externado University of Colombia, in the IP postgraduate course, where he lectures in Distinctive Signs and Denominations of Origin.

Gustavo López Padilla is a software executive with a track record in building, running and growing early-stage startups. He is currently the founding CEO of VoxFeed, a Mexico-based company that lets brands communicate with their audience through the help of influencers. Mr López’s passions include sales, business development, team building and fundraising. When evaluating new projects, he looks for the combination of disruptive innovation and an exponentially growing market. He considers human capital as the main driver of innovation.

Jesus Madrazo is Vice President of Corporate Engagement at Monsanto Company, a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that help farmers have better harvests while using water and other important resources more efficiently. In his current role, Mr Madrazo is responsible for leading the company’s Global Marketing, Communications Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainability, Partnerships and Issues Management teams. He reports to Monsanto’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Over his career at Monsanto, Mr Madrazo has held leadership roles at a variety of the company’s businesses, including operations for Central America, Caribbean and Andean Countries, based in Colombia; Latin America North operations, based in Mexico City; and International Business, including Monsanto’s business operations in Latin America, Europe, Africa, India, South East Asia and Canada. He joined Monsanto as Legal Director for Latin America North in 1999, and since 2009 has been based in St Louis, Missouri. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Monsanto Fund, the Guardian Angel Settlement Association, the United Way Multicultural Leadership Society of St Louis, and the Global Harvest Initiative, which he chaired in 2014. Prior to joining Monsanto, Mr Madrazo worked as a legal counsel and lecturer in Mexico and the US. His professional experience includes Banamex and the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade. Mr Madrazo holds a legal degree from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico, post-legal degrees from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the University of Arizona, and an MBA from the Cardiff Business School in the UK.

Adriana Noreña is Vice President for Spanish Speaking Latin America at Google and has been leading the region since 2011, based in São Paulo. Prior to that she was Country Director for Google Argentina from 2009 to 2012, and Sales and Online Operations Director, first for Brazil and then for Latin America. Before joining Google, she was Marketing and Business Development Director at Avaya and Strategic and Finance Planning Manager at Elma Chips (PepsiCo). She is also the Founder of a cosmetic products company. She holds a degree in Business Administration from Universidad Icesi (Colombia), an MBA from Babson College (USA) and a Master’s degree in Management of Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). She currently serves as a member of MIT Sloan Latin America Office’s Advisory Council.

Catalina Ortiz Lalinde is an Angel investor and entrepreneur, with more than 15 years’ experience starting and growing organizations in the public, private and social sectors. She is the founding manager of iNNpulsa Colombia. Ms Ortiz holds a Law degree from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Dairo Ortiz is a highly skilled electronics engineer focused on Data Center infrastructure design, implementation and operation, as well as Data Center service catalogue planning and selling. He is currently responsible for British Telecom’s regional Data Center and IT portfolio and operations across Latin America (22 countries). He had previously led the design and deployment of three Data Centers in Colombia (Tier IV, Tier III, Tier II), and was in charge of the operation of up to seven Data Centers across Latin America, Mr Ortiz completed postgraduate studies in Telecommunication Companies Management.

Daniel Quintero has a long track record as an entrepreneur and innovator in the IT sector. In March 2015, he launched, as CEO, iNNpulsa Colombia, the government agency for the support of productivity, entrepreneurship and innovation. Mr Quintero is also a renowned peace activist in Colombia. He has a degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Antioquia and an MBA from Boston University. He has also completed studies in Finance at the Universidad de los Andes, Public Finance Administration at Harvard University, and Government and Public Administration at the Javeriana University.

Alex Rudnicki serves as Vice President, Sales for Latin America at idomoo, a company specializing in the mass creation of personalized videos. Prior to that, Mr Rudnicki was founder of BD4HiTech, a company focused on outsourcing sales and business development functions for small companies. He also served as Assistant Vice President Sales at TTI Telecom, a company specializing in provisioning OSS solutions to telecom operators. His main role was to develop sales in TTI’s largest account, as well as to engage with partners to increase TTI’s reach in the European market. Prior to joining TTI, Mr Rudnicki served as Vice President, Business Development at Trivnet, a developer of m-commerce solutions. Before joining Trivnet, he acted in various business development and sales roles in Unipier and Mobilitec, accomplishing their first significant sales, as well as establishing joint agreements with major system integrators, OEMs and other partners. He also served in business development and strategy consulting positions in his own company and in Shaldor. Mr Rudnicki earned an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands and a BA in Economics and Computer Sciences from Bar-Ilan University.

Mauricio Rodríguez is a former Colombian ambassador to the UK, founder and Editor of Portafolio (for 14 years), former President of CESA Business School, Advisor to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, Director of the radio programme Líderes RCN, Professor of Leadership at Universidad de Los Andes and Externado University, and author of seven books about management and leadership.

Camilo Rueda became CEO in March 2015 with the goal of transforming Dafiti Colombia from a “startup” to a mature company that seeks to “revolutionize the way people in Latin America purchase fashion and sports, through a unique and extensive online portfolio.”  Before Dafiti, Mr Rueda worked at global consultancy firm McKinsey & Company – serving five years in the Atlanta, US office and two years in the Bogotá office where he reached the level of Associate Principal and led the operations practice in Colombia. Mr Rueda began his professional career in the US Navy, where he served a total of seven years as a submarine officer, deep submergence vehicle pilot and scuba diver.

Mike Shoemaker is the General Manager for Uber in Central and South America. Previously, he was Managing Director and Co-Founder of Linio.com.co, Colombia’s and Latin America’s
fastest growing e-commerce company. Formerly, Mr Shoemaker was Chief of Andean Ventures, International Business Developer for Vialux and Manager of Global Alliances for PDI
Ninth House (a Korn / Ferry company).

Alexander Torrenegra started his first business at age 14 in Bogotá, with the objective of buying his first computer. After migrating to the US, he co-founded Voice123 with Tania Zapata. Voice123 grew to become the largest marketplace for voiceover talent. Mr Torrenegra and Ms Zapata also founded Torrenegra Labs, an incubator that was named one of the top immigrant-owned startups in the US by Forbes Magazine. Via Torrenegra Labs, the partners have co-founded and invested in several successful tech companies, including WeHostels and VivaReal. In 2012, Mr Torrenegra co-founded Bunny Inc, a one-stop shop for professional services that can be delivered online. The aim is to identify the best available professionals on the planet, and enable humankind to reach its full potential. Also in 2012, he was honored on MIT’s Technology Review TR35 list as Top Colombian Innovator of the Year. In 2013, he was recognized as a High-Impact Entrepreneur by Endeavor, and in 2015 as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.