H.E. Laura Chinchilla – Co-Chair, Concordia Leadership Council; Chair, Concordia Americas Initiative; Former President, Republic of Costa Rica (2010-2014)
Federico Quinzaños – Co-Founder, El Gran Bajío
Andrés Cadena – Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Dr. Felicia Knaul – Director, Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas, University of Miami
Luis Carlos Velez – News Director, RCN Radio – La FM
H.E. Luis Almagro – Secretary General, Organization of American States; Leadership Council Member, Concordia
Miguel Gutierrez – Partner and Head of Private Markets, The Rohatyn Group
Margaret Spears – Deputy Assistant Administrator, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Victor Muñoz – Operating Partner, EWA Capital
H.E. Jamil Mahuad – Former President, Republic of Ecuador (1998-2000)
Fabrizio Opertti – Integration and Trade Sector Manager, Inter-American Development Bank
Alejandra Botero – Planning and Impact Development Regional Manager, CAF- Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean
“Latin America will be the region with lower growth rates in the following years – suffering from polarization, social discontent, and growing mistrust. These are the conditions we need to tackle. We need to renew our social contract and get our different sectors to address and advance these political issues.”
“We have distributions of wealth and then we have creations of wealth. Latin American leadership – from the business, political, and social sectors – has to focus more on creating wealth.”
“I think that democracy is not representing the people. What people want is jobs, opportunities, and additional leisure in their lives, meaning that we have to create the conditions for people to invest in Latin America. It’s about the money.”
“We live in a time where individuals can communicate and use the power of their voice in a positive way. The question, I think, is how to bring that together in a way that we realize that we can speak with one voice, as opposed to one cause at a time.”
“The most important question at hand is how to find the solutions to the main issues facing Latin America, and how to best unite in order to tackle these issues and work together. This is what we will try to uncover here today by laying forward solutions.”
“We have provided solutions to global problems for 200 years, but we are still facing our own problems which remain the same.”
“Institutions are very important. I think institutions are a reflection of what has happened in the last several years.”
“Having a clear vision makes it easier for others outside to support that vision, boost that vision, and invest.”
“Democracy needs to focus on the delivery. The expectation of the people is currently higher than what the government is delivering. Additionally, there is misinformation, polarization, and manipulation intensifying the division.”
“In my view, the issue lies in the difficulty to deliver to the people what they are expecting from us, and the main problem of our continent is narco politics.”
“The world has problems to which our region can be the solution.”
“It’s about the money, but how do we properly focus the money to have an impact?”