Luis Felipe Céspedes

Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism, Government of Chile.

Luis Felipe Cespedes has a Ph.D. in Economics from New York University and is an Economist from Universidad Catolica de Chile. He’s married and father of 3. In the public area, he has been a coordinator of economic policies and Head Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Finance. Former manager of Economic Investigations at Banco Central de Chile. Between 2012 and February 2014 he was part of the Technical Council on Investments, entity responsible for protecting the investment regime of Pension and Severance Funds. At the moment he was assigned his role in the Ministry, he was a professor at Universidad Adolfo Ibanez Business School. He was also an academic at Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica. During his professional career he served as a researcher at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank and Rutgers University. He has published diverse research papers in his areas of expertise in prestigious international economy magazines and an analysis on economic affairs in the local press. Editor of two books and the Academic Magazine ‘Economia Chilena’.

Dani Rodrik

Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Dani Rodrik is a Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. He has published widely in the areas of economic development, international economics, political economy and globalization. His current research focuses on the political economy of liberal democracies and economic growth in developing countries. He is the recipient of the Albert O. Hirschman Prize of the Social Sciences Research Council and of the Leontief Award for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

Alvaro Pereira

Director of the Country Studies Branch at the Economics Department of the OECD

Alvaro Pereira oversees the peer review process for the Economic Surveys. He provides leadership in the coordination and management of the activities of the Directorate and ensures that it is at the forefront of the international political economy agenda. He identifies challenges and develops ways in which the OECD can promote policies to improve member and partner countries long-term Economic performance. Prior to joining the OECD, between June 2011 and July 2013, Mr. Pereira was Minister for Economy & Employment in Portugal, responsible for the areas of Industry, Commerce and Services, Tourism, Energy and Public Works, Transportation, and Employment. As one of the largest ministries of the Portuguese government, Mr. Pereira was in charge of a major program of economic and labor reforms. Prior to this, he was a professor of Economic Development and Economic Policy at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and a lecturer at the University of British Columbia in Canada and the University of York in the United Kingdom. Mr. Pereira published a number of academic books and papers among which “Portugal’s Moment of Truth: New Economic Policy for Portugal (2011), The Fear of Failure: History and Economic Policy in Portugal (2009), and The Myths of the Portuguese Economy (2007), and was a columnist in various Portuguese Newspapers, such as the “Diario Economico”. Mr. Pereira is a citizen of Portugal and Canada, holds a BA in Economics from the University of Coimbra, an MSc Economics from the University of Exeter and a PhD in Economics from Simon Fraser University.

Joseph Ramos

President of the National Productivity Commission, Government of Chile.

Joseph Ramos Quinones is an Engineer and has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Columbia, United States. Born in Philadelphia, United States, he’s an American citizen by birth and a Chilean citizen by grace. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in Universidad de Chile, Faculty of Economy and is also the Chairman of the National Productivity Commission where he leads studies and projects focused on strengthening the country’s productivity (www.comisiondeproductividad.cl). He is also the Director of various Foundations, Editorials and Organizations primarily dedicated to the promotion and development of Education. He has extensive experience both as Professor and an Academic and has leaded numerous Economic Investigation Programs and Teams in the fields of redesign, productive modernization, business promotion and economic development in different institutions (ECLAC, Ministries, CIEPLAN, FLACSO, etc.). Additionally, he has various publications on labor issues, economic development, equity and productivity.

Rodrigo Valdés

Ministry of Finance. Government of Chile.

Rodrigo Valdes is the Chilean Minister of Finance since May 11th, 2015. Previous to his appointment, he was the President of BancoEstado. Until March, 2014 he headed BTG Pactual Investment Bank’s Investigation Division for Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru, where he leaded the macroeconomic investigation of the Andean Region and Argentina. He joined the Firm as Head Economist in January, 2014. Former Investigation Director and Head Economist of Banco Central, from 2002 to 2007. Upon joining the IMF in 2010, he was the Deputy Director of the European Department and Western Hemisphere Department, where he was also Head of Mission for the United States. Between 2008 and 2009, he was the Chief Economist for Latin America of Barclays Capital. He was the Chief of Staff for the Ministry of Finance between 2000 and 2001.

José Juan Ruiz

IDB Chief Economist and Manager of the Research Department.

Jose Juan Ruiz Gomez, a Spanish citizen, is the Chief Economist and Manager of the Research Department. The Department is the sector of the Bank that generates new ideas to enrich the knowledge base that supports the policy agenda of the Bank and its member countries. Mr. Ruiz comes to the IDB from the Banco Santander, where he served as Director of Strategy and Chief Economist in the Latin America Division. For the past 12 years he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the America Division and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Banco Santiago in Chile, Banco Santander Colombia, Banco Santander Puerto Rico, Banco Santander Peru and Banco Venezuela. Mr. Ruiz has also held various governmental positions in the Ministries of the Economy, Finance and Commerce. He was Undersecretary of International Economy and Competition and Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of the European Union from 1991 to 1993. He was responsible for Spain’s relations with the OECD, IMF and the World Bank, where he also served as a consultant. From 1993 to 1996, he was the Chief Economist for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria. He is a regular contributor to El País and from 1996–2001 wrote a column “Butaca de Patio” for the Spanish economic newspaper, Expansión. Mr. Ruiz holds a BA in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is a member of the Spanish civil service as Técnico Comercial and Economista del Estado.

Bruno Giuffra

Minister of Production, Government of Peru.

Bruno Giuffra Monterverde, estudió Economía en la Universidad de Lima y tiene un MBA (Master in Business en Babson College, USA. Ha trabajado 25 años como empresario en Perú y Latinoamérica. Ha sido Presidente Ejecutivo y director en diversas empresas. Además fue Director y conductor del programa “Mundo Empresarial” de Canal N. Nombrado como Ministro de la Producción el 28 de julio de 2016 por el Presidente Kuczynski.

Francisco Cabrera

Minister of Production. Government of Argentina.

Francisco Cabrera was the Minister of Economic Development of the city of Buenos Aires between 2007 and 2015, during Mauricio Macri’s two presidential terms. He currently serves as Argentina’s Ministry of Production, since December, 2015. In 2010 he created ‘Fundacion Pensar’, a foundation dedicated to the development of public policies. In private sector, he headed Maxima AFJP, was Executive Director of ‘La Nacion’ newspaper and worked in Roberts Group and Hewlett-Packard.

Andrea Repetto

Academic economist at the Adolfo Ibañez University

Ph.D. in Economics, MIT. Professor at School of Government, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez and Director of the Center for Labor Policies, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez. Andrea has a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and studied Economics at Universidad Catolica de Chile, where she also obtained her Master’s Degree in the same field. Her Research is focused on the interaction between economy and psychology in the assessment of policies and labor economy. She currently serves as a Professor in the School of Government of Universidad Adolfo Ibanez and as the President of the Fiscal Advisory Board of the Government of Chile. She was an Assistant Professor at Universidad de Chile until 2008. Repetto is a member of the Board of Espacio Publico, Banco Estado, Comunidad Mujer and Fundacion Superacion de la Pobreza (Foundation for Overcoming Poverty). Former President of the Severance Fund User Committee and member of diverse Presidential Advisory Boards, including the Presidential Advisory Board against Conflicts of Interest, Influence Peddling and Corruption. She was a member of the FONDECYT Economic and Administrative Sciences Group of Studies and Visiting Researcher at the World Bank. She was an Elected Director of the Chilean Association of Economists and the Latin-American and Caribbean Economics Association, LECEA. Repetto has published various articles in specialized magazines, book chapters and documents on politics.