CLAAF - Key Persons


Augusto de la Torre

Job Titles:
  • Adjunct Professor of International and Public
Augusto de la Torre is an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is a former Chief Economist for Latin American and the Caribbean at the World Bank. Before his appointment as the region's Chief Economist, Augusto de la Torre was a Senior Advisor responsible for financial matters in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since joining the Bank in October 1997, he has published extensively on a broad range of macroeconomic and financial development topics. Prior to joining the Bank, Augusto was President of Ecuador's Central Bank and an International Monetary Fund Economist, including the IMF's Resident Representative in Venezuela (1991-1992). He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Ecuador.

Enrique G. Mendoza

Enrique G. Mendoza is Presidential Professor of Economics and Director of the Penn Institute for Economic Research at the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined in 2013. Before that, he was Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, and held positions at the International Monetary Fund, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Duke University. He is a 1989 PhD from the University of Western Ontario, a Research Associate of the NBER, a former panel member of the NSF Economics program, and has served in the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the American Economic Review. His research focuses on international capital flows, financial crises, sovereign debt and international business cycles. His main publications include: "A General Equilibrium Model of Sovereign Default and Business Cycles" with V. Yue, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2012, "Sudden Stops, Financial Crises & Leverage," American Economic Review, 2010, "Financial Integration, Financial Development and Global Imbalances," with V. Quadrini and J. V. Rios-Rull, Journal of Political Economy, 2009, and "Real Business Cycles in a Small Open Economy," American Economic Review, 1991.

Guillermo A. Calvo

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Economics, International and Public
Guillermo Calvo is a Professor of Economics, International and Public Affairs, and Director of the Program in Economic Policy Management, at Columbia University since January 2007, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He is the former Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank (2001-2006), President of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, LACEA, 2000-2001, and President of the International Economic Association, IEA, 2005-2008.

Jose De Gregorio

Job Titles:
  • Full Professor
Jose De Gregorio is Full Professor and Dean of the School of Economics and Business at University of Chile. He was Governor of the Central Bank between 2007 and 2011 and also served as Vice-Governor (2003-2007) member of the Bank's Board (2001-2003). From March 2000 until June 2001 Mr. De Gregorio served as a "tri-minister", acting as the minister of the combined portfolios of the Economy, Mining and Energy. Between 1997 and 2000 he was Professor and Head of post-graduate programs at the Center of Applied Economics at the University of Chile. He was also Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Visiting Professor at Anderson School, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and has a taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. De Gregorio was an Economist in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990 and 1994. He has worked as a consultant for international organizations (IMF, World Bank, IDB and United Nations) and foreign companies. He was a visiting researcher at the IMF and the World Bank. From 1983 to 1986 he was a researcher at the Corporación de Investigaciones Económicas Para Latinoamérica (Corporation for Latin American Economic Research), CIEPLAN. He has published widely in international academic journals and books on issues of monetary policy, exchange rates, international finance, and economic growth. He has served as a referee and member of editorial boards for several academic journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has a degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in engineering from the University of Chile. He received Marcos Orrego Puelma the best graduate of his class.

Laura Alfaro

Job Titles:
  • Professor
Laura Alfaro is the Warren Albert Professor at Harvard Business School in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit. She was Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica from 2010-2012. She is also Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research's International Macroeconomics and Finance Program, Faculty Associate at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and member of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies' (DRCLAS) policy committee. Professor Alfaro is the author of multiple articles published in leading academic journals, and of Harvard Business School cases related to the field of international economics and in particular international capital flows, foreign direct investment, and sovereign debt. She has taught in General Management Program, the Program for Leadership Development, and in other executive education offerings as well the first year and second year of the MBA program and the doctoral program. Laura Alfaro earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1999, where she was recipient of the Dissertation Fellowship award. She received a B.A in economics with honors from the Universidad de Costa Rica in 1992 and a ‘Licenciatura' from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile in 1994, where she graduated with highest honors. In 2008, she was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Liliana Rojas-Suarez

Job Titles:
  • Peru - Chair of the Committee )
  • Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development
Liliana Rojas-Suarez is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Chair of the Latin American Committee on Macroeconomic and Financial Issues. Since 2017, she is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, New York. From March 1998 to October 2000, she served as Managing Director and Chief Economist for Latin America at Deutsche Bank. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Ms. Rojas-Suarez was the Principal Advisor in the Office of Chief Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. Between 1984-1994 she held various positions at the International Monetary Fund, most recently as Deputy Chief of the Capital Markets and Financial Studies Division of the Research Department. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Economics and has also served as a Professor at Anahuac University in Mexico and an Advisor for PEMEX, Mexico's National Petroleum Company. Ms. Rojas-Suarez has also testified before a Joint Committee of the US Senate on the issue of dollarization in Latin America. Ms. Rojas-Suarez has published widely in the areas of macroeconomic policy, international economics, and financial markets. Her most recent publications include: Can International Capital Standards Strengthen banks in Emerging Markets (IIE, 2001), Why So High? Understanding Interest Rate Spreads in Latin America (ed. With P. Brock, IDB, 2000), "What Exchange Rate Arrangements Work Best for Latin America", World Economic Affairs, (Autumn 2000) and Financial Regulation: Why, How and Where Now? (With C. Gooddhart et al, Routledge, 1998). Ms. Rojas-Suarez holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Paulo Carvalho Leme

Mr. Leme is an Executive in Residence Professor of Finance at the Miami Business School and serves as Chairman of the Finance Department Advisory Board of the University of Miami. He worked as the Chairman of Vinland Capital, a Brazilian macro hedge fund with headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, Mr. Leme spent 25 years at Goldman Sachs, where he worked as the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs do Brasil Banco Multiplo S.A. and a Managing Director and Head of Emerging Markets and Latin America Economic Research. Mr. Leme served for 9 years as a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund, where he worked on economic stabilization and external debt restructuring programs with countries in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Mr. Leme holds an MA in Economics from The University of Chicago and a B.S. in Electronic Engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.