Board of Directors
Alberto Beeck (Chair) is Director of Virgin Hotels and a partner at VH Properties and VH Investments. Until 2008 he was the Executive Director Strategy and Corporate Development at Hochschild Mining Plc., a precious metal, London listed, mining group with activities in several Latin American countries and Canada. Mr Beeck has also been the President of Cementos Pacasmayo, a Peruvian cement producer and distributor. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Head of Latin American Investment Banking for ING Barings, Barings Inc. in New York, and Baring Brothers in London. He has also served as Vice President CorporateFinance Group, Dillon, Read Ltd., London, and Vice President International Corporate Finance and Government Advisory Group for Lehman Brothers, New York. Mr Beeck is the Chairman of the Georgetown University Latin American Board, a member of The Group of 50 and of YPO (Young Presidents Organization). Mr. Beeck received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1978 and an MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia University in 1982
Diana Gomez is Chair of the Board of Memo S.A., a large privately held agribusiness operation in Colombia. She is currently the Director of New Country Expansion for Endeavor Global, a not-for-profit organization that supports high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging markets, and is a Trustee of The Hotchkiss School, and an Independent Director of Athilon Capital Corporation. Ms. Gomez holds a BA in Government from Harvard College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Luis Miguel Rubin s the General Manager of Lumni México and the founder and Director of Fundacion Beca. He was previously the Director of Fundacion Carolina and holds a CPA from Universidad Anahuac.
Miguel Palacios (Co-Founder and Head of R&D) is Assistant Professor of Finance at the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University. He received his PHD from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and was a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Miguel has authored numerous works on the subject of financing human capital including “Investing in Human Capital” (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and has consulted for the World Bank on the topic.
Felipe Vergara (Co-Founder and CEO), has launched four companies in the education and finance industries. He received his MBA in finance from Wharton before joining McKinsey & Company as a consultant in their New York office. Felipe was recognized by Ashoka as a Leading Social Entrepreneur and Global Fellow in 2006, elected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2009, and named one of America’s 25 Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs by Business Week in 2009. Felipe holds a degree in industrial engineer from Universidad De Los Andes in Colombia.
Advisory Board
Felipe Medina is the Regional Director for Latin America Private Wealth Management of Goldman Sachs. He began his career in Goldman Sachs in 1990 managing assets for Latin American clients and formed the largest team in the region. Between 2000 and 2003, Felipe was Regional Manager for Latin America . Currently, Felipe manages relationships with the most influential families and individuals in the Southern Cone Region. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics and Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before Goldman Sachs, Felipe worked in the Investment Banking Division of Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. Felipe currently spends twenty percent of his time analyzing and researching the social investment field in Latin America. He is particularly interested in studying projects that generate sustainable development in the region. Felipe has also studied the obstacles that exist to create a culture of philanthropy in the region. He has collaborated with the Social Enterprise Knowledge Network of Harvard Business School and with organizations such as Synergos, The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), Avina, Ashoka, and Prohumana. He completed the Nonprofit Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. Felipe is on the Board of Directors of Give to Colombia.
Gil Crawford is the CEO of MicroVest. He has over 20 years experience with microfinance institutions and capital markets, and has worked extensively in Latin America and Africa, as well as in Asia.Previously, Mr. Crawford worked for the Latin American Financial Markets Division at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and focused on investments in microfinance institutions. Prior to joining IFC, Mr. Crawford created and ran Seed Capital Development Fund, a US based non-profit firm, involved in creating financial instruments and attracting funds to capitalize microfinance institutions, primarily in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Specific projects included: Latin American Challenge Investment Fund (LA-CIF), a US$ 20 million loan fund for microfinance institutions in Latin America; DEVCAP, a "shared return mutual fund" whose total assets reached over US$ 27 million dollars. Mr. Crawford has also been a Member of ProFund's Investment Committee and alternate member to the Board of Directors for many years.Before founding SCDF, Mr. Crawford was the Assistant Project Director for Africa Venture Capital Project, a $7.1 million USAID contract designed to create risk capital firms in Africa. Mr. Crawford received his bank training at Chase Manhattan Bank in the mid-80's after working in Africa for the Red Cross and State Department. He graduated from SAIS at Johns Hopkins University in 1983 and Bates College in 1980.
Angel Alverde Losada has been Chief Executive Officer of Office Depot, a subsidiary of Grupo Gigante, S.A.B. de C.V. since 1994. He holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Universidad Iberoamericana and a Masters degree in Finance and Marketing From JL Kellog Graduate School of Management.
Daniel Echavarra is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fundacion Corona, a foundation that supports health, education, community development and entrepreneurial development programs in Colombia. He also serves on the Board of Directors of various companies in diverse sectors including Organizacion Corona, a ceramics and building materials group with headquarters in Colombia. Daniel is also CEO of El Paso Advisors, a family office advisory business in Miami. He previously worked as Commercial Director in GFG Capital, a multi-family office in Miami. Prior to founding El Paso Advisors, he co-founded TeRespondo.com, the leading provider of pay-per-click search engine advertising in Latin America. He was CFO and COO until April 2005 when the company was acquired by Yahoo! The company had more than 6,000 advertisers and employed over 40 people throughout in Miami, Sao Paulo and Mexico City. Daniel has also served on the Family Council of Organizacion Corona as Treasurer, Vice-Chairman and Chairman between 1999 and 2006. He has a Masters in Finance from London Business School and a BS in Business Administration with distinction from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Fernando Fabre is the Managing Director of Endeavor Mexico. He is also the founder of the Capital Program for Mexico and the former Director of the Business Accelerator Anáhuac. He is a professor at the University of Anáhuac del Sur. He has a PhD in Economics with a specialization in Finance from the Claremont Graduate University and an MBA and BS from the Universidad Anáhuac del Sur.
