MEXICOVC DAY

Liliana is CEO from AMEXCAP since April, 2018. Before this, she was Venture Capital Director of the National Entrepreneurship Institute (INADEM). She has more than 15 years of experience in development banks in areas such as projects evaluation, technical assistance and project management with multilateral and bilateral funding.

She has worked as an independent consultant and project manager of local economic development projects financed with international cooperation funds.

Mrs. Reyes has graduated in international affairs from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She has master degree in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a master degree in International Cooperation and Project Management from the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset from Madrid, Spain.  She also has a Diploma in Private Equity from the IPADE Business School.

INADEM is an institution within the Mexican Ministry of Economy, which aims to implement, execute and coordinate the national policy to support entrepreneurs, and micro, small and medium enterprises, fostering innovation, competitiveness and projection in national and international markets.

In May 2016, Raul Gallegos joined the Asset Management group at Credit Suisse to develop and lead and new Real Estate lending platform through the launch of a specialized fund (CBFI) focused on issuing loans for income producing properties. The target asset classes for this vehicle include office buildings, retail centers, industrial properties and hotels. MMREIT was successfully closed in 3Q17 with $6,333 million pesos raised which provide capacity of up to $18,000 million pesos of AUMs with leverage. It is currently executing its first investments. 

Prior to this, Mr. Gallegos was the President and CEO for GE in Mexico since July 2013, where he was focused on business development and growth in the country through the various industrial and financial business units. He represented the company as a whole which has 11,000 employees, 17 manufacturing plants, 5 service centers and the largest engineering center in Mexico with 1800 specialized engineers. 

Raúl began his career with GE in 1997 in Stamford, Connecticut with the Latin America group of GE Capital Structured Finance, where he worked on debt and equity transactions for infrastructure projects in Energy, Telecom and the Transportation industries. In 1999, he returned to México to join the GE Capital Real Estate business, where he first worked as a Relationship Manager and originator, and then as the leader of the Debt Business. During 7 years, he was focused on consolidating and growing their loan portfolio, achieving a level of specialization unique in the industry, and a completely integrated platform that became the market leader with over $4 billion dollars in assets. From 2006 to 2013, he served as General Manager of GE Real Estate in México, where he was responsible for both the debt and equity businesses which totaled more than $5 billion dollars in assets, including managing Intramerica Real Estate Group, one of the principal owners and operators of industrial properties in Mexico with a portfolio of more than 200 buildings and 17 million square feet. In December 2012, GE Capital Real Estate sold this platform to Macquarie to create what is now Fibra Macquarie.

Raúl is a Civil Engineer from Universidad Anáhuac and he has an MBA from Columbia University in New York. He started his professional career at Industrias Gar-Vel, one of the most important mechanical contractors in Mexico, where he participated and led some of the most important construction projects in the country.

Mr. Ritter is Vice President and Private Equity Analyst at Bessemer Trust. In this role, he is responsible for private equity and venture capital fund due diligence, as well as the administration of the Fifth Avenue Private Equity Funds.

Prior to joining Bessemer, Adam worked for the Treasurer’s office at The Rockefeller Foundation. Before that, he worked at Merrill Lynch in the Financial Institutions group, focused on Latin America.

Adam earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Tampa.

Pioneer in the design and launch of public and private programs promoting the entrepreneurial and venture capital ecosystem across Mexico, US, Latin America and Europe, with the purpose of triggering the cross-border opportunity. Recognized as a leading woman in alternative assets and high impact entrepreneurship in LATAM region.
Since January 2022, Adriana is the CEO and Managing Partner of the Twelve Hundred VC (“1200 VC”) Fund, an early-stage investment platform that invests in fund managers and founders shaping the future of humanity. Its focus is on seeking transformative technologies and regional value creation, which will accelerate a positive impact on the planet and society.
Adriana is a member of Class 16 of the Kauffman VC Fund Managers Program (Kauffman Fellows Program). KFP’s mission is to develop the world’s next generation of Venture Capital leaders. She completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Finance at the University of Guadalajara (1999), and his Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the Ortega y Gasset University Institute in Madrid, Spain (2002). In 2009, he completed the “Open Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship” program at the University of California, Berkeley Hass School of Business. In 2006, she was recognized as one of the 30 professional promises in her 30 years in Mexico, a classification by the EXPANSIÓN business magazine (“30 promises in their 30s”) and in 2017 she received the “Successful Trajectory Award” from the AMEXCAP (Mexican Private Equity Association) and was recognized as “The Scholar of the Year” of the MOB Scholarships, an association of recognized excellence that contributes to the development of Mexico through the support of postgraduate higher education and the promotion of its graduates. She has been a mentor, speaker, panelist and jury member on entrepreneurship, innovation, impact and investment initiatives in America, Europe and Asia, for almost two decades.

Alan I. Annex is Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Corporate Practice. He leads multi-disciplinary deal teams in a wide variety of large-cap and middle-market domestic and cross-border transactions. Alan has broad experience in corporate and securities matters, and regularly advises public company boards, special committees and executive management regarding their fiduciary duties; corporate governance best practices; and M&A deal strategies, structures and techniques.

Alan was an architect of the structure for the early SPACs of the 1990s. He routinely leads 20+ attorney teams whose deals have increased exponentially in number and value over the past year: Under Alan’s leadership, GT has leapt in its rankings as one of the top law firms on SPAC Research’s DeSPAC Legal Advisors table for business combinations (based on closed and pending deals).

Alan recently lead the team of GT attorneys who handled one of the largest SPAC merger transactions ever, United Wholesale Mortgage, with an approximate value of $16 billion.

Concentrations

• Public and private offerings of equity and debt
• Domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions
• Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
• UK Cash Shells and other alternative investment vehicles
• Leveraged buy-outs and other going-private transactions
• Audit committee issues
• Securities Exchange Act reporting and compliance obligations

Education

• D., cum laude, New York Law School, 1987
• S., cum laude, Accounting, State University of New York at Albany, 1984

Admissions

• New Jersey
• New York
• Florida

Alejandro has been involved with the venture capital and entrepreneurship industries for over 20 years. First as an entrepreneur, in 2000 he co-founded his first company, which he sold in 2004. In that same year, Alejandro founded a company that bought the distribution and sales rights of Vilebrequin in Mexico and Latin America and was appointed CEO. Alejandro led the company until its sale in 2009.

Since that date and until today, Alejandro is dedicated to venture capital investments as Managing Partner of DILA Capital. He has led the analysis, due diligence, investment process and divestment of more than 30 companies from 2013 to date. This has been achieved through 4 venture capital funds.

Alejandro holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad Iberoamericana and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Alexander R. Rossi is co-founder and Managing Partner of LIV Capital, a leading Mexican private equity fund manager. Mr. Rossi has over 30 years of Private Equity and Investment Banking experience in the U.S. and Latin America, where he has successfully completed over 50 transactions with an aggregate value in excess of U.S. $3.5 billion. Previously, Mr. Rossi was Managing Director and head of Latin America for Communications Equity Associates, LLC (CEA), a merchant and investment bank specialized in the media, communications and technology sectors.

Mr. Rossi is also CEO and Board Member of LIV Capital Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ: LIVB) and a Board Member of Agile Thought, Inc (NASDAQ: AGIL).

Currently Mr. Rossi sits on the boards of various private Mexican companies as well as the AMEXCAP. Mr. Rossi received an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a BA in Economics and Art History from Williams College.

He is fluent in Spanish and English.

I joined Google after finishing as the EIR in FinTech at Techstars and being a two-time founder, one Techstars backed (kpiReady) and the other bootstrapped (GDPRsimple). During my time as a founder, I also mentored over 15 Techstars programs, in multiple early-stage startup programs nationwide (ASU Venture Devils, ASU Computer Science Program, and New Inc.) and to over 300 companies globally, focusing on their OKRs, KPIs, and startup narratives/visions. Before spending the last six years in startups in technology, I started my career in relationship management/business development strategy in the non- and for-profit fields and joined JPMorgan Asset Management after getting my MBA for NYU Stern. In addition, I am the co-head of the Techstars NYC Chapter, sit on the Techstars Chapter Advisory Board, am a founding mentor of Northeastern University’s The Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator, and mentor/advise/angel invest in early-stage startups from Techstars and beyond. Additionally, I joined the board of Flip.xyz in early 2022 and am passionate about web3. But my geekiness doesn’t stop with OKRs, KPIs, and relationship management, I love learning about the arts and trying new recipes (including making my own cider).
I currently split my time between Portland, ME, and NYC to be outside as much as possible. If you have not heard from me yet, I will be reaching out as I am really excited to meet you, have virtual coffee chats or walks, and to partner with all of you.

Startups: happy to look at Fintech, AI/ML based

Andy Tsao is a Managing Director and leads SVB’s Global Gateway, which assists innovation companies in the emerging markets with their US and international market expansion. He brings more than 20 years of experience banking dynamic companies in technology industries worldwide.

In his roles, Andy manages SVB’s relationships with venture capital and private equity firms outside the U.S., and also helps emerging market companies as they seek U.S. market entry and U.S. companies as they seek to expand abroad. In both capacities, Andy provides these firms with strategic advice and banking services, including debt financing, based on a deep understanding of their needs.

Previously, Andy led and helped found SVB’s U.K.-based operation, SVB Financial Group UK Ltd, which was established in 2004. For six years, he was responsible for building senior debt relationships with high-growth technology, life sciences and clean technology companies in the U.K. and Europe. Tsao routinely speaks about technology and venture financing at conferences such as events held by the Latin American Venture Capital Association, AMEXCAP, and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Andy is on the Board  and was a former President of the Asia America MultiTechnology Association (AAMA) , on the Advisory Board of Asia Society Northern California, Advisory Board of BayBrazil, and Venture Council of LAVCA.

Autumn Learned is a Director in the BlackRock Private Equity Partners (PEP) group within BlackRock Alternatives. She is responsible for performing due diligence on and monitoring direct investments, co-investments and private equity fund investments. Ms. Learned leads BlackRock’s private equity initiatives in Latin America, with a specific focus on Mexico. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2019, Ms. Learned spent eight years with the IFC Asset Management Company, the private equity subsidiary of the International Finance Corporation. She spent six years in Singapore focused on growth equity investments in Emerging Asia markets, and two years focused on equity investments in Africa and Latin America out of IFC’s Washington, D.C. office. Ms. Learned began her career with Milestone Advisors, an investment bank now part of Houlihan Lokey, where she focused on M&A and capital raise advisory in the financial services industry. Ms. Learned earned a B.S. in Economics in Finance and Management with a minor in Hispanic Studies from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD.

From Bolivia, Carlos is a seasoned retail entrepreneur. After starting his career at Walmart, he led Linio’s launch in Chile at the beginning of e-commerce in the region. He then founded Luuna, the first fully verticalized D2C brand in Mexico.

In ~7 years, Carlos and his team built a profitable $100M-sales retail group, now called ZeBrands, managing a portfolio of ~6 brands across Sleep and Home categories. They just entered Brazil and now pursue a bold strategy of manufacturing and tech integration, operating its own Mexico-based factories.

Eduardo Triulzi has broad experience in the mergers and acquisitions practice advising private equity funds, venture capital funds and search funds in the acquisition and sale of businesses and assets within the food and beverage, construction, technology and education services, among others. He has also advised sellers, purchasers and financial advisors in sale and acquisition processes of different companies, including public companies involving tender offers.

In the FinTech industry, he has experience representing different entities in obtaining its licenses as IFT.

In connection with financing, he has advised domestic and international lenders in structuring and restructuring credit facilities for Mexican public and private sector entities.

RELEVANT TRANSACTIONS

• Represented Nexxus in the investment and acquisition of different companies in the food and beverage, construction and technology industries.
• Represented Mountain Nazca in the investment and divestiture of different companies.
• Represented Kavak in its last capital raise.
• Represented Kaszek Ventures in the investment of different companies in the technology industry.
• Represented Abraaj in the investment of a company in the energy sector.
• Represented LIV Capital in the investment of a relevant percentage in the capital stock of the Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA).
• Represented Ainda, Energía & Infraestructura, in the implementation of a strategic alliance that provides for the participation of Impulsora Inverza in the capital and the corporate governance of Ainda, Energía & Infraestructura.
• Represented Grupo Modelo in the investment in different companies and in the sale of certain non-strategic subsidiaries.
• Represented Citinanamex and HSBC in the structuring and restructuring of different credit facilities.
• Represented multilateral financial institutions in the implementation of their factoring programs.

Ernesto Revilla is a Managing Director and Head of Latin America Economics at Citigroup. He joined Citi in 2015 as Mexico economist. Before, he had a 12-year career at Mexico’s Finance Ministry where he was the Chief Economist. In that position, Revilla headed macroeconomic planning, coordinated Mexico’s National Development Plan, served as advisor to the minister and participated in budget negotiations. Earlier, Revilla was an economist at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Revilla studied economics at the undergraduate level at ITAM in Mexico and at the graduate level at the University of Chicago.

Fernando is co-founder and Managing Partner at Matterscale, a venture capital firm. He is also a co-founder of Columbia University’s eLab, a fellowship for global entrepreneurs in Edtech. He is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University of the course Scaling Up in Hard Places: How Entrepreneurs Grow Outside of Silicon Valley. Previously, as president of Endeavor Global and former manager of Endeavor Mexico, he helped the organization expand to 30+ countries and to launch multiple programs such as Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor Insight, and many others.
He is the co-founder of Collective Academy, a top higher-ed school in Mexico, an advisor to EBC, and a graduate from Claremont Graduate University in California. He currently lives in New York and travels often to his home country, Mexico.

He was an official of the Bank of Mexico, chief economist for Mexico at the investment banks J.P. Morgan and UBS and until a few months ago he served as Deputy General Director of Economic Analysis, Investor Relations, and Sustainability of Grupo Financiero Banorte. He has been a professor at ITAM, the Tec de Monterrey, the Anahuac University, and the RiskMathics Institute. He has published articles in specialized magazines such as the Journal of Policy Modeling. He is currently the author of the weekly column “Global Perspective” in the newspaper El Financiero and a permanent member of the recently created Committee for Dating Cycles of the Mexican Economy (INEGI/IMEF) and a member of the group of ‘leaders of the future’ of the International Institute of Finance (IIF). Dr. Gabriel Casillas is an economist graduated from the Tecnológico de Monterrey and obtained a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, specializing in econometrics, monetary theory, and economics of information.

Guadalupe is a partner in the Accounts organization at EY’s Mexico City office. She is Deputy Market Segment Leader for the Mexico & Central America geographical market segment. She also leads entrepreneurial initiatives and programs in Mexico.

She leads efforts around EY’s Center for Board Matters, including the Mexico Board of Directors Leadership Network, a select group of directors drawn from the country’s leading corporations who are convened to discuss the most important issues and challenges in governing an organization.

Guadalupe serves as member of the INROADS Mexico Board of Directors, the Wadhwani Foundation LATAM Advisory Board and the IPADE Business School ISTMO Magazine Editorial Board. She was also a member of the IPADE Business School Research Center for Business Entrepreneurial Initiative Advisory Board.

She is a mentor for MassChallenge Mexico, BlueBox Ventures, POSiBLE (Fundación Televisa) and Endeavor, and has participated as judge and mentor for corporate accelerator programs such as Eleva (Grupo Bimbo), Cinépolis Accelerator, TakeOff (Volaris), Nave Aceleradora (Axtel) and IBM SmartCamp. She is co-author of the first Spanish book on entrepreneurship, “Más Allá del Business Plan” (“Beyond the Business Plan”), June 2013.

Her leadership within Mexico’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has been recognized by the different roles she has served: President of the IMEF (Institute of Mexican Executives in Finance) National Technical Committee on Entrepreneurship; member of the Mexico-US Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council; independent board member of the seed capital investment fund between Mexico’s Ministry of Economy and Nacional Financiera (national development bank); Advisory board chair for WEConnect Mexico.

Formally in EY’s Consulting practice, she has 22 years of financial and IT audit and consulting experience. She currently serves as Global and Regional Services Coordinating Partner for a number of companies, including AB InBev Middle Americas Zone and Cinépolis. Guadalupe began her career in EY’ Chicago office.

Guadalupe has been very actively involved in gender equity and inclusiveness initiatives at EY Mexico. Her participation has been crucial to strategies that have been implemented locally. Her leadership skills have been recognized throughout her career at EY by being selected to serve as member of committees such as the Americas Gender Equity Task Force, Assurance & Advisory Business Services Advisory Council and the Partner Forum for Mexico & Central America.

MFin. Guillermo Eduardo Cruz, is a proactive investor with the main objective of supporting innovative business models with high scalability potential.

His professional goal is to develop the private equity industry in an important way in order to compete internationally with a well-developed and sustained industry.

He has been recognized as an investor to be publicly followed by several articles in Expansion magazine, among others.

EDUCATION
Guillermo has a master’s degree in finance from Harvard University with a specialty in private equity from Harvard Business School. In addition to the aforementioned, he also has a degree in general management from Yale University through its Yale School of Management.

He received his BA in Economics at the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in business administration from McCombs School of Business.

WORK
In the professional field, he is currently Co-Founder of Maquia Capital Financial Group, which has more than $460 million dollars under management, operating with three public companies, two listed on Nasdaq and one on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Within the group, Guillermo has invested in a portfolio of more than 10 companies, of which 3 have made IPOs and 1 of them has obtained unicorn status; the rest of his investments are still in a promising growth stage.

He studied Law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

He worked as a lawyer and compliance analyst at Buda.com.

Then he started working for CMS Carey & Allende in the corporate area, promoting the creation of the Venture Capital, entrepreneurship and innovation area, today ranked among the leaders in Chile.

Joined as a founding partner of Platanus Ventures in October 2020.

Jorge is responsible for supporting investment and portfolio management activities for private markets portfolios.

Jorge has over 10 years of private markets investing, M&A, and corporate finance experience. Prior to joining Spruceview, he was the Head of Investments, Treasury and Financial Control at Seguros Sura México responsible for portfolio strategy, as well as for asset and liability management. Previously, he was the Deputy Head of Alternatives at Afore Profuturo where he led asset allocation for Alternatives as well as Profuturo’s incursion into international private markets. Prior to that, he supported M&A and corporate finance initiatives at Grupo Bal, one of the top business conglomerates in Mexico.

Jorge holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and a Master of Finance degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Jorge Islas Lopez is Consul General of Mexico in New York, by virtue of the appointment made by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and unanimous ratification made by the Senate of the Mexican Republic on March 20th, 2019; taking office on May 3rd, 2019. As an active promotor of human rights, one of his main priorities as Consul General will be to defend immigrant rights, regardless of their status.

Mr. Islas is recognized nationwide in the private and public sector for his expertise in Constitutional Law and human rights defender. He has worked to promote the right of television viewers as News Ombudsman of the Congressional Television Channel, also ratified unanimously by the Mexican Senate; as well as environmental rights, as author of the first legal disposition of the rights of Mother Earth in the Mexican legislation.

A true pioneer, he wrote the first federal legislation in Mexico regarding class actions (2008-2009) and transparency and access to public information (2002) (Freedom of Information Act).

He has also authored constitutional reforms of the states of Oaxaca and Michoacán, and served as advisor for Mexico City´s first constitution.

El Lic. Montaño se especializa en transacciones de fusiones y adquisiciones, capital privado y mercado de capitales. El Lic. Montaño ha representado activamente a compañías nacionales e internacionales en transacciones transfronterizas, incluyendo el asesoramiento en la estructuración y ejecución de asociaciones en participación (joint ventures) y transacciones de capital privado. Los clientes más representativos, transacciones y asuntos incluyen asesor legal de Endo Pharmaceutical, Grupo ADO, AlphaCredit y Grupo Modelo en sus adquisiciones, ventas o desinversiones de Acquisitions, ´SAPIs to Promote Private Equity in Mexico’, es coautor de ‘The Practical Legal Guide to M&A in Mexico 2013’ publicado por Chambers and Partners, y coautor del Capítulo para México en ‘The Private Equity Review’ publicado por Law Business Research en 2014, 2015 y 2016.

El Lic. Montaño ha sido reconocido o citado como Up and Coming o su equivalente en las áreas de fusiones y adquisiciones y mercado de capitales por varias publicaciones, incluyendo: Chambers Latin America: Latin America’s Leading Lawyers for Business de 2014 a 2017, The Legal 500 a partir de 2015 y Latin Lawyer 250: Latin America’s Leading Business Law Firms a partir de 2014.

El Lic. Montaño trabajo como asociado internacional en las oficinas de Nueva York y Londres de Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP de 2007 a 2009.

El Lic. Montaño nació en la Ciudad de México, México. Obtuvo su título de Licenciado en Derecho del Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, su Maestría en Derecho (LLM) de New York University y un certificado profesional en derecho y negocios de New York University Stern Business School. Su lengua materna es el español y domina el idioma inglés.

José Miguel Cortés is the CIO of Venture Capital and Impact Investing strategies at Fondo de Fondos. Prior to joining Fondo de Fondos in 2013, Mr. Cortés was part of Citi’s treasury department in Mexico City, where he oversaw the liquidity management across various divisions of the bank. Previously, he co-founded a digital marketplace that offered procurement services to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Mr. Cortés holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Tec de Monterrey and a M.S. in Finance from EADA Business School. He also holds diplomas in Private Equity and Venture Capital from IPADE Business School and LAVCA in association with MIT.

Josh is an Investment Partner based in New York City. Prior to joining WTI in 2017, Josh was the founder and CEO of Pronoun, a venture-backed ebook publishing platform acquired by Macmillan Publishers, where he subsequently served as President of the division. Previously, Josh was the first employee at Media Rights Capital LP, a film and television financing firm backed by Goldman Sachs, AT&T, and WPP. Earlier in his career, Josh worked in the corporate development group at Endeavor, the Hollywood talent agency. Josh received his MA and BA from the University of Chicago and his MBA from Columbia Business School.

Is currently Anteris Capital’s Chairman of the Board and Founder. The creation of Anteris Capital reflects the conviction that his experience, familiarity with the day-to-day operations, financial background, and access to a broad network of relations will support companies during the growth stages, creating financing opportunities that can help them to successfully execute their Business Plans. Anteris is the first Venture Debt Fund in Mexico and companies such as Kavak, GAIA, Luuna, Muncher, E6PR and others have benefited from the product.

Mr. Gutiérrez has over USD$5 billion in M&A transactions and over USD$3.5 billion in public, private and supplier structured financings experience. In 2004, he joined Grupo DESC (which later evolved to Grupo KUO, one of Mexico’s most relevant industrial conglomerates) as Corporate Managing Director, and in 2007 he was named CEO of Grupo KUO (until 2014). During this period, Grupo KUO obtained two-digit growth in sales and EBITDA and its stock was listed among the top 10 best shares (8) in the Mexican Stock Exchange (2008 – 2013) with a 525% appreciation value. Mr. Gutiérrez completely turned the conglomerate from having 80 subsidiaries in 3 countries with a >6.0x debt to EBITDA ratio, into a more efficient and profitable 40 subsidiary company in 8 countries with a <2.0x debt to EBITDA ratio. Over US$2bn in annual sales with 18k employees in 5 main sectors: consumer, agricultural, petrochemical, automotive and aerospace.

The constant portfolio-like participation of Mr. Gutiérrez in Grupo KUO’s M&A activity and financings, and his comprehensive and profound involvement in the operation of each of its subsidiaries, resembles the Fund’s business model, as we must delve into the operations of each potential client, and once a transaction is executed, proactively engage in contributing to detonate its growth potential.

In 1998 Mr. Gutiérrez joined Pegaso Telecomunicaciones as CFO and shortly afterwards he was promoted to CEO (until the completion of the sale to Telefónica of Spain, in 2003). He was responsible for building and expanding the nationwide company that reached over 800k costumers.
In 1997, he joined Promecap as Deputy Managing Director.

He started his professional career in 1981 in Fomento de Valores S.A. de C.V., as Investment Advisor and in 1985, after the merger with Casa de Bolsa Inverlat, he became part of the key team of collaborators, shortly thereafter assuming the CFO position. Later, together with the former Inverlat management team, he joined Grupo Financiero InverMexico (Banco Mexicano S.A.), where he held the positions of CFO and Deputy Managing Director. In both institutions, he served as Member of the Board. He left the latter after negotiating the acquisition of the Group by Banco Santander, in 1997.

The mixture of broad vision and creative leadership has been one of Mr. Gutiérrez’s strengths that have led him to earn achievements, outstanding strategic alliances, mergers between companies with fruitful results, commercial launches and the successful implementation of financial strategies.

He is currently member of the Board of Directors in several companies, including public corporations such as Qualitas (Member of the Board and of the Investment Committee)

Born in 1959 in Mexico City, Mr. Gutiérrez is an Industrial Engineer from Universidad Anahuac, where he was awarded with the Honorary Anahuac Leadership Medal and is currently Member of the Board of the Faculty. He underwent postgraduate studies at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM), where he belongs to the distinguished Alumni named by ITAM.

Laura is an investor with Salesforce Ventures based in NYC. Salesforce Ventures is a multi-stage, global fund focused on opportunities in enterprise software. Laura covers investments in the US, EMEA and LATAM, with a focus on dev ops, data stack, fintech, and web3. Prior to Salesforce Ventures, Laura worked in strategy consulting where she advised companies and supported private equity transactions in the technology sector. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA with Honors in Theology from the University of Cambridge.

Magdalena Coronel brings more than 15 years of angel investing, venture capital and investment banking experience both in the United States and Latin America. Magdalena started her career as a Venture Capital Analyst with Prosperitas Capital Partners, a fund manager investing in early-stage tech companies located in Uruguay. Subsequently, she became VentureStart Program Manager at the Regional Technology Alliance in Sacramento, California to later transition to Director with the Institute of the Americas, where she was responsible for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. Since 2018 she was a member of Houlihan Lokey, advising clients in valuation matters, until she joined IDB Lab as a Senior Investment Officer, leading the direct equity arm of the Lab, in December 2020. Magdalena assumed the role of Chief Investment Officer of IDB Lab in September 2021.
Magdalena also co-founded a 35-member angel investor network with a focus on deal flow from Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay, and was a Business Fellow from Partners of the Americas and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in 2011. Ms. Coronel holds a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay, and a Master’s degree in Business and Administration from NYU Stern.

María has been the CEO of Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA) since it began operations more than 4 years ago. Under her leadership, this institution has consolidated its position, achieving national and international recognition. BIVA has granted funding to companies from all sectors for more than 17.5 billion USD. In 2021, BIVA was named Mexico’s most innovative company, by Great Culture to Innovate, in its annual ranking.
Prior to the stock market industry, Maria developed her career in the private equity sector, holding positions such as: CEO of the Mexican Private Equity Association (AMEXCAP), Partner at Ictus Capital; and Associate at NAFTA Fund, where she specialized in financing structures for companies with high growth potential.
Additionally, María Ariza is Partner and member of the Board of Grupo Salus S.A. de C.V.; Partner of Muventa, S.A.P.I. de C.V.; Partner of Cervecería de Colima S.A.P.I de C.V.; and Venture Partner of Matterscale Ventures LLC.
María serves as an independent advisor on the boards of AXA and Mac Hospitales; on the advisory or investment committees of Beel Infrastructure, Nexxus Capital, Redwood Capital, Endowment TEC, Lafirma Capital and Dux Capital; and on the boards of non-profit institutions such as Fundemex, CMR, Fomento de Educación Ibero, EGADE Business School, Aceleradora de Negocios Anáhuac, Mujeres Invirtiendo, Consejo Consultivo de Finanzas Verdes and Alianza por la Inversión de Impacto.
María’s career has been acknowledged with the “Exceptional Women of Excellence” award from the Women Economic Forum, the Ricardo Flores Magón award from the International Business Council, and in lists of leading women in publications such as Expansión, Forbes and Líderes.
In 2022, the consulting firm Horse placed María in second place in its “CEOs Change Makers 2022” ranking, which measures the performance of the most innovative, disruptive, and transformative business leaders in Mexico.
María Ariza holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Harvard University, where she was nominated for the Dean’s List of Academic Achievement Award and is an Industrial Engineer with Academic Excellence from Universidad Iberoamericana.

Several things can be said about her: she graduated in International Relations from ITESM-CCM and Sciences Po Paris; that she has an MBA from ITAM; and that she has more than 17 years of experience in the Mexican financial sector, 6 of which she focused on international finance, mainly in the areas of operations, customer service, compliance, risk and collection.

But the breaking moment came when in 2018, with a group of enthusiastic entrepreneurs, she consolidated the Stori project, a new system that aims to use technology to serve people and activate financial inclusion.

As co-founder and Chief Regulatory and Governance Officer of Stori, this year she became the newest Mexican unicorn, the first one founded by a woman. An initiative like Marlene’s reconfigures the financial and credit landscape and integrates people who, for years, have been on the margins of this system.

Mauro Conijeski is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking group at EarlyBirdCapital. He leads all aspect of the origination, structuring and advising SPAC sponsor teams from pre-IPO to the closing of the business combination. Since joining in 2016, he led the expansion of the firm to Latin America becoming the leading underwriting and advisor for cross-border transactions in the region. He join in 2016 from Garnero Group where he was Chief Investment Officer and the sponsor manager of Garnero Group Acquisition Corp. (a SPAC).

Prior to that, he worked for over two years in the buy-side at CQS in the Latin American long/short equity fund. Mauro has extensive experience as a sell-side advisor having spent many years originating and executing M&A, debt and equity transactions at Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and HSBC. As the person responsible for M&A in Latin America, he advised on over 20 transactions worth over $40 billion.

Mauro started his career working for KPMG and Deloitte accumulating over 6 years of experience in advisory, consulting, auditing, and tax matters.

He is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and holds and MBA from Boston University and B.S. in Economics and Accounting from the Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay where he is also a CPA.

Monica has been Research Director from AMEXCAP since July 2018. She has dedicated more than 20 years to investigate and analyze economic and demographic data, as well as designing and creating distribution models for national financial resources for local governments. She has also worked as an independent advisor in the field of developing methods for creating indicators and information gathering; and in the Ministry of Finance, developing mathematical and financial models for forecasting and simulating different schemes for financing projects.

Monica has graduated in Actuary from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, she has a Diploma in Finance from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, did a post-graduate course in Economics from The University of Warwick in the UK, a Master degree in Demographics from El Colegio de México and a Phd in Population Studies from El Colegio de México.

Neal Prunier,

ILPA (Institutional Limited Partners Association)

Director, Standards & Best Practices.

Neal Prunier, Director – Standards & Best Practices at ILPA, is responsible for the continuing evolution and expansion of the ILPA standards to help ILPA provide impactful service for its members and the broader private markets industry. With a focus on improving alignment of interest, governance, and transparency, Neal works on resources ranging from reporting centric (ILPA Reporting Template and ILPA Cap Call & Dist Template), to comprehensive guidance on both broad areas (DDQ) or specific topics (Subscription Lines). Neal also helps push forward ILPA’s work with ESG, DEI, and the ILPA Principles, as well as Technology for LPs. Prior to ILPA, Neal spent his career at Cambridge Associates where he oversaw staff across the globe as head of the investment operations department responsible for enterprise data management across Private Investments, Hedge Funds, and Long Only. Neal holds a BS in Finance from Elon University and an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

Paige Thacher joined KKR in 2021 as a Principal on the Tech Growth team, focusing on growth equity investments in the Americas. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Thacher was a Principal at 3L Capital, where she led growth equity investments in software and financial technology businesses, and served on the boards of Incode, DealerPolicy, and Planck. Previously, Ms. Thacher worked as an Associate at General Atlantic in the financial services group. She started her career as an investment banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley. Ms. Thacher holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University.

Patricio Aznar is Managing Partner of Bridge Latam, a founders-backed fund based in México, and leads the fund operations and investments in the region. He started his career in equity research Mexico´s leading brokerage house and has been in the Latin American VC industry for almost a decade, starting as an analyst in one of the first startup incubators in México in 2014. Since then, he has co-founded a company builder focused on healthtech & edutech of which he s still a board member, and from 2017 to 2021, he worked for the IDB Lab,  toiling on developing the entrepreneurial and VC ecosystem in LATAM. Patricio holds a BA in International Business and Administration.

Pooja Yadav is a Managing Director in DFC’s Office of Equity and Investment Funds. Prior to DFC she worked at CrossBoundary, an emerging markets advisory firm based in Nairobi. She has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and BA with high honors from Emory University.

Travis Foxhall is an Operating Partner at Point72 Ventures. He works with portfolio companies aiming to optimize their outcomes, with a focus on fundraising and corporate development. He is also responsible for evaluating and executing investments in the fintech space, specializing in emerging markets.

Before joining Point72 Ventures, Travis was Chief of Staff at Neon, a leading digital bank in Brazil, where he worked with senior management on corporate strategy, business development, and fundraising initiatives. Prior to that, he was a venture investor with Quona Capital, where he focused on fintech startups in Latin America. Travis began his career in corporate strategy roles at JPMorgan Chase and Thomson Reuters.

Xavier Casas is the head of corporate development at Clip, where he runs investor relations, capital markets and M&A. Before joining Clip in 2021, Xavier worked at Goldman Sachs for over 5 years, holding several positions within the Financial Institutions Group in the Investment Banking Division, first in London and then in New York. He actively participated in the expansion of Goldman Sachs Financial Technology coverage across Latin America. Before that, Xavier worked at the Boston Consulting Group in Madrid. Xavier holds a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) from ESADE Business School in Barcelona.