2019 Latin American Business Conference

Sergio Fajardo is a mathematician from the Universidad de los Andes, with master's and Ph.D. degrees in math from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master's degree from the Universidad de los Andes and a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Spain (2009) and the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina (2015). He was also a professor of mathematical logic at the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad Nacional of Colombia.

In 2003, Fajardo was elected as the first independent mayor of Medellín. During his four-year administration, he led a great transformation of the city, for which he has received numerous national and international awards. In 2010, he was vice presidential candidate with Antanas Mockus. From 2012 to 2015, Fajardo was elected governor of the state of Antioquia. During his administration, Antioquia experienced the best national performance in open government, transparency and investment of oil royalties.

Fajardo launched his independent presidential candidacy in 2018, which was supported by the Coalición Colombia made up of the Green Party, the Polo Democrático and his movement, Compromiso Ciudadano. In the first round of elections, Fajardo obtained more than 4.6 million votes, only 1.5% away from passing to the second round. Currently, Fajardo is professor at the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Instituto Tecnológico from Monterrey, Mexico and at the School of Political Formation from Compromiso Ciudadano. He is currently a visiting professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley.

Philip Behn leads Walmart’s marketplace business, which includes all third-party sellers on Walmart.com and Jet.com. This fast-growing business unit is a key driver of assortment, customer engagement and profitability. Prior to is position, Behn presided over the eCommerce division of Walmex, a publicly listed $30 billion business with over 2,000 stores. Under his leadership, customer NPS grew from 20% to 65%, GMV accelerated from 35% to 65%, and Walmart.com.mx became Mexico’s #1 online food retailer and #3 online general merchandise retailer.

Before joining Walmart in 2010, Behn was a senior management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he served retail and consumer goods clients in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and degrees in economics (BA) and finance (M.Sc.) from the University of Chile. He is a father of two, husband of one, and an avid skier, mountain biker and swimmer.

Carlos Bremer Gutiérrez serves as the chairman of the management board and chief executive officer at Value Grupo Financiero. Since 1993, he has played an important role in the stock market, becoming a placing leader of corporate and stock certificates, supporting the development of infrastructure in Mexico. In the last few years, he also has been a leader in the credit market, delivering the highest yield on a national scale.

Bremer is a board member of the Clinton Foundation, America Movil, the Mexican Stock Exchange and the World Education Fund in New York. He is well known for organizing conferences and special events for Value’s clients and friends where he reunites them with key players of finance, business, sports and entertainment with the purpose of spreading and instilling values and disciplines of success. Bremer has also participated in multiple philanthropist events with his strategy motto “Supporting Education through Sport” benefiting thousands of children and adolescents in México. Carlos Bremer: a man with values, ideals and leadership that has a deep human sense and social commitment… a businessman who believes in México!

João Campos joined PepsiCo in June 2015. Before joining PepsiCo, he enjoyed a 25-year career with Unilever, working in local, regional and global roles across various business lines. Campos has lived in Sao Paulo, London and Rome. He brings consumer experience in marketing, brand equity and sales across a variety of product line and categories including personal care, laundry, food, beverages and ice cream. Campos holds masters and bachelors degrees from Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Brazil. He also completed the general management program at both Harvard Business School and Kellogg Business School. In 2017, Forbes Brazil elected Campos one the 25 best and most influential CEOs and a year later, in 2018, he was voted one of the top 15 by the same publication and ranking.

In May 2018, Agustín Caso Raphael was appointed deputy general auditor of Mexico for eight years. Previously, he has held numerous senior positions, including in the Federal and State governments, the Secretary of the Treasury, the National Institute for Education Evaluation, the Secretary of Governance, the National Bank of Public Works, PEMEX, the National Bank of Mexico, and the Government of the State of Mexico, among others. Internationally, he served as the review and evaluation officer at the Inter-American Development Bank and more recently, as a consultant for the World Bank in performance evaluation and public investment for India, and as an expert for the fiscal consolidation process of Colombia.

He has published numerous papers in performance evaluation and performance budgeting as well as three books: Monetary Policy, Evaluation and Economic Growth: The Case of Mexico; Migration and Repatriations; and Trotsky, A Journey to the Labyrinth. He also founded the consulting firm, Exponencial, S.C., which specializes in project appraisal and evaluation. In 1976, Caso Raphael received Mexico’s National Prize of Economics. He is an academic member of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics (founded in 1833), founder and member of the Georgetown University Alumni Club and member of the Bankers Club of Mexico. He is currently a professor and teaches the history of economic analysis at Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) Mexico. Caso Raphael received a B.A. in economics from ITAM and M.A. in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University. He is a Mexican citizen, and married to Yolanda Jacobs, and is father of José Antonio, Agustín and Alonso.

Felipe Cusnir is chief executive officer at Swell, a capital introduction and placement firm working with sovereign wealth funds, investment firms, and individual investors raising capital and providing strategic counsel for resource allocation. he focuses on projects in infrastructure and transportation, sustainability, distressed assets, healthcare, and sports and entertainment.

Prior to founding Swell, Cusnir served as director of international trade and investment at Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, facilitating international trade development, attracting foreign direct investment, and strengthening government relationships. Prior to joining Mayor Garcetti’s administration, Cusnir worked for the International Development Department for the Port of Los Angeles promoting the Port and the region to foster trade and business. Prior to working for the City of LA, he was director of operations for a food service company in Brazil, and before that, Cusnir was in New York City working on market entry and development strategies for Latin American companies in the infrastructure, finance, ICT and entertainment industries.

Cusnir is an American-Brazilian citizen and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Sao Paulo.

From 1993 until April 1996, Sebastian Edwards was the chief economist for the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a member of the advisory board of Transnational Research Corporation and co-chairman of the Inter American Seminar on Economics (IASE). He is the past president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA), an international professional association of economists with academic interests in Latin America and the Caribbean region. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Kiel Institute of World Economics in Kiel, Germany. In September 2004, Edwards was appointed to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Edwards has been a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and is the author of more than 200 scientific articles on international economics, macroeconomics and economic development. His articles have appeared in The American Economic Review, The Journal of Monetary Economics, The Economic Journal, Oxford Economic Papers, The Journal of Development Economics, The Quarterly Journal of Economics,  Journal of Economic Perspectives and other professional journals. His work and views are frequently quoted in the media, including the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist.

Edwards is an associate editor of The World Economy, the Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money and Analisis Economico. For almost 10 years he was the co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics. Edwards has been a consultant to a number of multilateral institutions, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD. He has also been a consultant to the United States Agency for International Development and to a number of national and international corporations. He has worked in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Tanzania and Venezuela. He has also consulted for a number of international financial institutions and multinational firms. Edwards was born in Santiago, Chile. He was educated at the Catholic University of Chile, and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. He currently serves as faculty director for UCLA Anderson’s Center for Global Management and senior associate dean for global initiatives

Eduardo Elejalde is a founding partner of Latin America Enterprise Fund Managers, LLC (LAEFM) and has concentrated on private equity fund management in Latin America since 1994. He is a member of LAEFM's board of directors and of the investment committees of the funds that it manages. Elejalde is also president of LAEFM Colombia Ltda., a subsidiary of LAEFM. LAEFM has been a pioneer of private equity fund management in Latin America. It has sponsored and managed six private equity funds (US$ 783 million) of which two were pan-regional and multisector and four were focused on the Colombian natural resources sector (three in hydrocarbons and one in forestry). Except for LAEFM Colombia´s forestry fund, which is still ongoing, all the other LAEFM funds have successfully completed their investment and exit processes. 

Elejalde is a past chairman of the board of the Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (LAVCA) and is a current member of the board of directors and/or of the investment committee of the following entities:  Corporación Inversor (which manages a fund that invests in businesses with a significant social impact); the Banco de Comercio Exterior de Colombia (BANCOLDEX)´s vehicle to support emerging private equity fund managers; and the Colombian Association of Private Equity Fund Managers (ColCapital). He is also the founder and president of the Natalia Mental Health Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation that focuses on mental health issues. Previously, he was managing director of Samuel Montagu, senior merchant banker of Bankers Trust Company, senior vice-president of Shearson Lehman Brothers and division chief of the World Bank, where he started his career in 1972. During the course of his career, Elejalde has completed over 150 transactions in some 35 countries in different parts of the world. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from MIT, an MBA from Columbia University and was a 2015 fellow of Harvard University´s Advanced Leadership Initiative.  Elejalde is a citizen of Peru and the United States.

Gonzalo Freixes, J.D., is an adjunct professor in the accounting area and serves as associate dean of the Fully Employed and Executive MBA programs. A native Cuban, Freixes and his parents immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1960s as refugees of the communist regime in that country. Freixes chose to study law for several reasons: the positive impact he believed lawyers can have on a society (“something I very much appreciated as a refugee from an authoritarian regime”), and the enjoyment of litigating in the courtroom. A licensed attorney in the State of California since 1979, Freixes came to UCLA Anderson in 1990 at the invitation of a colleague. He taught business law classes for several years while maintaining a full-time law practice. Once he fell in love with teaching, he reversed his professional roles, teaching law and tax classes full time and practicing law part time.

Since joining UCLA Anderson, Freixes has held positions as faculty director for the Applied Management Research MBA field study program and as associate dean of the Executive MBA program as well as the Global Immersion program. In addition to his administrative duties, Freixes teaches business law, international business law, business ethics, corporate and individual taxation, and real estate law and taxation in the MBA program and in the undergraduate accounting minor. What he most enjoys is “being in the classroom and traveling the world with our students in our global programs.” He has lectured in Brazil, Spain, France, Holland, Argentina, South Africa, Belgium and Chile on international business and tax subjects as well as on corporate governance, business ethics, international business law and trial advocacy. He has been faculty director of international seminars for Executive MBA programs from other top business schools, including IE Business School (Madrid), Essec Business School (Paris) and Mannheim Business School (Mannheim, Germany). Previously, he taught International business law and business law at California State University, Northridge.

For the last 18 years that Freixes has served as the faculty advisor and coach for the UCLA Mock Trial Program, UCLA has won the national mock trial championship four times. Freixes served on the board of trustees of the Executive MBA Council and was board chair in 2012. He was an elected official with the Newhall School board of trustees (serving two years as president) and also served three years on the State Bar of California’s Judicial Nominees Commission, where he evaluated the California Governor’s judicial nominees for the Supreme, Appellate, Superior and Municipal Courts. Freixes is fluent in four languages — Spanish, English, French and Catalan. He serves regularly as a commentator on business ethics, tax issues and international business for both English and Spanish media. Freixes holds a J.D. in law from Loyola Law School and an M.A. in business taxation from USC.

Gerardo Grajales has worked at Avianca Airlines for 17 years. In February 2019, Grajales was appointed chief transformation officer, responsible for overseeing the implementation of Avianca Holding’s Transformation Plan that is expected to improve profitability and strengthen the balance sheet, moving from a growth-focused to a profit-focused company to accelerate deleveraging. In 2002, he joined as CFO for Avianca Airlines in Colombia and led the company through several important milestones beginning with the successful turnaround from bankruptcy, in the southern district in New York, in 2004 to today's leading position in Latin America. During this period, he led teams that negotiated the renewal of the fleet, its incorporation and financing, including ECA and IFC financing for close to US$6.0 billion. In 2008, he also led the acquisition of a cargo company, Tampa, for US$50 million that now has a value close to US$1 billion and in 2009, spearheaded the local bond issuance of Avianca airlines for US$250 million. Later in 2009, Grajales was part of the negotiation team leading the integration of Avianca and Taca airlines that created one of the leading airline groups in Latin America. After the integration with Taca, he became the CFO for the new group. In 2011, Grajales took the new Holding public on the Colombian Stock Exchange generating more than US$277 million in fresh capital for the Holding. In May 2013, he led the company to the international capital markets successfully placing a US$300 million dollars bond offering. Six months after the international bond transaction he marked another cornerstone in Avianca´ s corporate history as he took Avianca to the New York Stock exchange through a level III ADR listing. In April 2014, Grajales completed the foundation for Avianca Holdings expansion plan by raising another US$250 million, aiming to position Avianca as the leading Latin American Airline.  In 2015, Mr. Grajales provided healthy financing for the company by completing a credit card securitization of US$245 million and further selling 30% of the loyalty program to Advent international for US$307 million; the loyalty company has now a value close to US$1.5 billion.

In 2016, Grajales was appointed executive vice president in charge of eight companies for the Holding to help the value creation and through 2018, he managed to increase the portfolio of companies to eleven operating in 10 countries, increasing their revenue during this timeframe from $860 million to close to US$1.2 billion. Companies include cargo, courier, loyalty, travel agency, call center, regional airlines, and ground handling companies among others. Grajales has also signed ventures that will start operation in 2019 that include an online vacation packages distribution company and a pilot training center. Since February 2017, he has also led a joint business agreement negotiation with United and Copa Airlines that will create one of the most important alliances in the US to the Latin American market.

Grajales received a B.S. in business administration from ICESI and a M.S. in finance from Baltimore University. He started his professional career as treasurer for Gillette Colombia in 1992. Three years later, he joined Baxter Pharmaceutical as financial director for the Colombian operation. After two years at Baxter, he was appointed as Baxter's marketing director for the Andean region and in 1998, joined the Colombian electric power industry first acting as shared services senior vice president and then as CEO for two thermal power plants located in Cartagena, Colombia.

Joana Monteiro is research coordinator at Rio de Janeiro’s Prosecutor Office and professor at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV/EBAPE) Between 2015 and 2018, she was head of the Institute of Public Security (ISP), the government body responsible for disclosing and analyzing Rio de Janeiro’s crime and violence records. At the Prosecutor’s Office and at ISP, she leads the agenda for use of evidence in the Criminal Justice area, having implemented projects to facilitate data analytics by policemen and improve transparency to society. She holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. in economics from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). Between 2009 and 2012, she was a visiting research fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Monteiro is specialized in development economics and an expert in impact evaluation of public policies.

Alfred E. Osborne, Jr., is interim dean of UCLA Anderson School of Management, overseeing the institution’s primary objectives to conduct essential research, educate students and serve the community. Previously, he served as senior associate dean, with oversight of a variety of key initiatives for the school, including resource development, alumni relations, corporate initiatives and executive education. Osborne also holds an appointment as Professor of Global Economics, Management and Entrepreneurship and is the founder and faculty director of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The Price Center serves to organize faculty research, curricula and student activities related to the study of entrepreneurship and new business development at UCLA Anderson.

Osborne’s areas of academic expertise include social entrepreneurship and the development of a leadership approach that applies business models and methodologies to the nonprofit world. Under his leadership, the Price Center created a number of management development programs, including five in partnership with health care giant Johnson & Johnson: the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Head Start Management Fellows Program; the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Advanced Management Institute for Head Start; the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute; the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program; and the Management Development Institute (MDI) for health care organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. Several related, innovative programs include the Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship (ISEE) and the UCLA/Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) Head Start Leadership Institute.

A deep belief in the value of entrepreneurship has guided Osborne’s vision for what is possible throughout his decades-long tenure at Anderson. In addition to founding the Price Center, he facilitated infusion of an entrepreneurial approach to leadership into the Anderson culture and curriculum, including and transcending the notion of business startups. Osborne combines his emphasis on innovation with a deep belief in the value of a broad-based diversity that includes demographics but, just as important, a wide range of ideas. Osborne is an active participant in the business community, serving as a director of Kaiser Aluminum, Wedbush Inc., and First Pacific Advisors (FPA) family of mutual funds. His nonprofit affiliations include serving as a trustee of the Geffen Academy at UCLA, Fidelity Charitable, the Harvard Westlake School, and the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation. He served many years on the corporate boards of the Times Mirror Company, US Filter Corporation, Greyhound Lines Inc., Nuverra Environmental Solutions Inc., First Interstate Bank of California, Nordstrom Inc. and K2 Inc., among others. Osborne received his Ph.D. in business economics, MBA in finance, MA in economics as well as BS in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Juan M. Procaccini has more than 25 years of experience in strategic consulting, private equity, real estate, and business development in Latin America, the United States and Europe. He is the former CEO of the Argentina Investment and Trade Promotion Agency, where he built the organization to more than 150 professionals. From December 2015 to July 2017, in this role, he helped global corporations understand Argentinian investment opportunities and participated in numerous trips with the president, vice-president and several ministers promoting the country. Previously, Procaccini was managing partner at Moebius Capital Group, a real estate investment and advisory firm with a focus on South America. He was also a partner at Grupo Pegasus, a leading private equity firm in Argentina, where he led a $260 million fund in partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Before Pegasus, for almost three years, Procaccini was a strategic consultant for McKinsey & Co. based in Germany.  He also worked for Procter & Gamble as a brand manager in South America and for Powerscreen Int. in Northern Ireland, Colombia and Argentina developing the Latin American market. Procaccini received his MBA from UCLA Anderson and participated on exchange at London Business School, UK. He graduated as an industrial engineer from Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires - ITBA where he also serves on the alumni board. Procaccini also sits on the advisory board of Endeavor Argentina.

Kevin Terraciano is Professor of History at UCLA, specializing in Latin America. He was the President of the American Society for Ethnohistory in 2011. Professor Terraciano's interdisciplinary research focuses on the history of indigenous peoples in Mexico, based especially on their own writings. He has won several awards for his research and publications, undergraduate teaching, and mentoring of graduate students since he joined the UCLA faculty in 1995.