Hon. Luis Alberto Moreno was elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank during a special meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors on July 27, 2005 and took office on October 1, 2005. Prior to joining the IDB, Moreno served as Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States for 7 years. Previous to his post as Ambassador, Moreno served a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors in Colombia. Immediately prior to his appointment in Washington, he served as representative for the Andean Region of WestSphere Capital, a private equity firm focusing on investment opportunities in Latin America, from August 1997 to July 1998. Previously, he served as senior advisor to the Luis Carlos Sarmiento Organization, the leading banking & financial group in Colombia with over US$10 billion in assets, from November 1994 to August 1997. Ambassador Moreno has also held leadership positions as President of the Colombian government’s industrial finance corporation, Minister of Economic Development, and Executive Producer of an award-winning news program. Moreno obtained bachelor's degrees in Business Administration and Economics from Florida Atlantic University in 1975, and an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management at Thunderbird University in 1977. Ambassador Moreno has been awarded the highest decorations and distinctions by the Colombian government and private sector, and earned a Neiman Fellowship by Harvard University to undertake studies at that institution from September 1990 to June 1991 for his distinguished work in the field of journalism. To see President Moreno's full bio, please click here.

Dr. Nora Lustig is a native of Argentina who currently resides in Mexico and works with the Colegio de Mexico. She is currently a J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Visiting Professor at the George Washington Elliot School for International Affairs. Prior to his, she served as President of the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico. Before her post as President of the UDLAP Dr. Lustig was Chief of the Poverty and Inequality Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank. Dr. Lustig has also been a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Professor of Economics at El Colegio de México.

Paulo Sotero is currently the Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Brazil Institute. For the last 17 years, Mr. Sotero was the Washington Correspondent for Estado de S. Paulo, a leading Brazilian daily newspaper. He has also been a regular commentator and analyst for the BBC radio Portuguese language service, Radio France Internationale, and Radio Eldorado, in Brazil. Since 2003 he has been an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University both in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and in the Center for Latin American Studies of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Carlos de Abreu is Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs Brazilian Embassy. A Brazilian career diplomat since 1983, Minister Counselor de Abreu has in recent years served as Head of the Market Access Division at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, as an advisor to the Minister of Finance and as an advisor to the Under Secretary for Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Relations. His foreign diplomatic postings have been at the Brazilian Embassies in Bolivia; Argentina and the United States, and at the Consulate General in San Francisco. Since 2002, he has published four journal articles on international economic affairs, three of which analyzed policy aspects of recent economic developments in Argentina, while the other examined financial crises in developing countries. Minister Counselor de Abreu has a Bachelors degree in Economics and has done postgraduate studies at the Brazilian diplomatic academy, the Rio Branco Institute. He was born in Rio de Janeiro and is married, with one son.

Joe Garcia is a former NDN Vice President for Hispanic Programs and former Executive Director of the Cuban American National Foundation.

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