About the blog

Luis Alejandro Mejía

Luis Alejandro is Lead Advisory Officer in IDB Invest, where he oversees the Sustainable Finance advisory practice for investment funds and financial institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During his ten-year role as Senior and Lead Investment Officer at IDB Lab and IDB Invest, he has led and originated various emblematic IDB group funded projects in the region, two of them received the IDB Group “Diversity Award” in 2018 (first version of the Award) and in 2020. He structured the advisory services that allowed first of its kind thematic bonds issuances, such as first sustainable bonds by the banking industry in Uruguay, Central America, and in El Salvador, as the same as first SLB in Latin America.

Before joining the IDB group, Luis Alejandro was an entrepreneur and innovator at the corporate and banking private sector, were he led the first worldwide transaction of carbon credits from forestry investments in voluntary carbon markets. He also developed, as a first mover in Latin American financial industry, green financing lines for renewable energy, sustainable transport, and agroforestry activities. In 2012, he received the beyondBanking award in planetBanking category, as an acknowledge to those innovations.

Luis Alejandro holds Agricultural Engineering degree, specialized in hydraulics and irrigation at Israel, and a MBA major on Sustainable development from INCAE Business School.

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Luis Alejandro Mejía

Luis Alejandro is Lead Advisory Officer in IDB Invest, where he oversees the Sustainable Finance advisory practice for investment funds and financial institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. During his ten-year role as Senior and Lead Investment Officer at IDB Lab and IDB Invest, he has led and originated various emblematic IDB group funded projects in the region, two of them received the IDB Group “Diversity Award” in 2018 (first version of the Award) and in 2020. He structured the advisory services that allowed first of its kind thematic bonds issuances, such as first sustainable bonds by the banking industry in Uruguay, Central America, and in El Salvador, as the same as first SLB in Latin America. Before joining the IDB group, Luis Alejandro was an entrepreneur and innovator at the corporate and banking private sector, were he led the first worldwide transaction of carbon credits from forestry investments in voluntary carbon markets. He also developed, as a first mover in Latin American financial industry, green financing lines for renewable energy, sustainable transport, and agroforestry activities. In 2012, he received the beyondBanking award in planetBanking category, as an acknowledge to those innovations. Luis Alejandro holds Agricultural Engineering degree, specialized in hydraulics and irrigation at Israel, and a MBA major on Sustainable development from INCAE Business School.

Luis Carlos Restrepo

Luis Olmedo

Luis Olmedo is Partner in charge of the Strategic Value area for the Americas at NTT Data. With 14 years of experience in strategy projects, he has had the opportunity to execute projects in more than 15 countries, providing a different vision of the challenges that entities face in their transformation strategies. Additionally, he has developed several studies in the Americas on the challenges of digitalization and the benefits for regional development that technology brings with it. Impact, curiosity, and value are the principles that Luis pursues in all the projects in which he is involved.

Luiz Amaral

Luiz Amaral es gerente global de Global Forest Watch Commodities. Encabeza el equipo internacional que compromete a las empresas y los gobiernos a utilizar herramientas geoespaciales y tecnologías de la información del World Resources Institute (WRI) con el fin de monitorear las cadenas productivas agrícolas para reducir la deforestación y promover el desarrollo sostenible de la agricultura a nivel mundial. Antes de integrar el WRI, Luiz lideró el equipo de responsabilidad social y medioambiental corporativa en Rabobank Brazil y América del Sur, responsable de los procesos de evaluación de riesgos, que implican una calificación de sostenibilidad innovadora, así como el desarrollo de negocios sostenibles.

Magdalena Barafani

Magdalena Barafani is an economist and consultant in the Development Effectiveness Division (DVF) at IDB Invest, where she focuses on research and project management for development-oriented initiatives. She has more than ten years of experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating projects and studies related to productive development and international trade, with a gender perspective. Previously, she worked as a consultant at the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL-IDB). Magdalena holds a master’s degree in economics from Universidad de San Andrés and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad Nacional del Sur, with additional training in data science and leadership from The London School of Economics.

Malini Samtani

Malini is a Climate Change Specialist in the Advisory Division at IDB Invest. She coordinates internal strategic initiatives such as Paris alignment and the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), as well as advises financial institutions clients on integrating climate considerations in their portfolios. Prior to IDB Invest, she held positions as a Program Manager at the Pan American Development Foundation in Suriname and as a Senior Assistant at Deloitte’s Financial Audit Practice in Chicago. She graduated with a Master’s in Development Finance and Latin American Studies from SAIS- Johns Hopkins and a Bachelors in Accounting from Bentley University.

Marc Falcó Pallarès

Marc Falcó Pallarès es miembro del equipo de Mercados de Capital de BID Invest, parte de la división de Productos y Servicios Financieros. Marc es responsable de estructurar, modelar y ejecutar operaciones que permiten a los clientes del banco acceder a los mercados de capital de deuda locales e internacionales. Es especialista en el modelado cuantitativo de titularizaciones y crédito estructurado. Antes de ingresar al Grupo BID, Marc trabajó en Mizuho International en Londres como analista de riesgo de mercado. Posee una maestría en ciencias en Mercados Financieros de la Escuela de Altos Estudios Comerciales (EDHEC, por sus siglas en francés) y una licenciatura en Economía Internacional de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra (España).

Marcela Betancourt

Marcela is an Investment Officer on the Climate Change Advisory Services Team at IDB Invest, which she joined in 2021. She is responsible for supporting the development of operations by structuring and implementing innovative solutions to promote a greater climate impact in projects developed with financial intermediaries and the infrastructure sector. She has led the technical component in different projects related with thematic bonds, green lines and green building in the region. Before joining the IDB Group, Marcela worked as Project Manager for Grupo Express on projects to implement clean technologies for passenger transportation, search for and strengthen new business and develop energy efficiency initiatives in the transportation sector. She has extensive experience in promoting climate actions in transport infrastructure sector in Colombia, Peru and Chile. Marcela earned a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and a specialization study in organization control and management systems at the same university. Marcela earned an Industrial Engineering degree from Universidad Militar Nueva Granada (Colombia).

Marcelino Madrigal

Marcelino Madrigal, a citizen of Mexico, is the Energy Division Chief at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Mr. Madrigal has over 20 years of experience in energy policy, regulation, energy markets, and development finance mobilization. Throughout his career, he has supported public agencies and energy companies in more than 20 countries across Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Before joining the IDB, he spent over a decade in international roles at the World Bank and in government institutions, advising on regulatory reforms, energy sector modernization, and transport electrification. In Mexico, he held leadership positions in government, including serving as Commissioner at the Energy Regulatory Commission during the implementation of the 2013 energy reform. Dr. Madrigal has participated in international networks such as the Ibero-American Association of Energy Regulators and served as Vice Chair of the World Forum on Energy Regulation. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia and earned his master's and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He has also been active in academia as a researcher and lecturer.

Marcelo Paz

Marcelo Paz is a Bolivian national who joined the IDB Group in 2008. He is currently a lead strategy officer, specialized in development diagnosis of the financial and capital markets sectors. Up until 2015 he was in charge of originating and structuring financial transactions that supported the expansion of financial services in LAC through capital markets development, trade finance and financial intermediaries. Marcelo Paz has over 20 years of experience in the banking and financial markets industry, as well as the public sector. Prior to joining the IDB he worked at commercial banking in Bolivia, where he held different positions, such as Credit Risk Manager and International Business Manager, and was a board member at a brokerage firm and a mutual fund. In addition, he worked at the Bolivian Ministry of Finance, and the Bolivian Stock Exchange. Mr. Marcelo Paz holds an MBA in Finance and Investments from George Washington University.

Marco Monje

Marco is a Senior Investment Officer within the Infrastructure & Energy Division with over 15 years of professional experience. Marco has participated in the financing of +25 transactions across 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Marco has gained experience structuring greenfield and corporate transactions providing debt financing and equity solutions to international and regional sponsors. He has intervened on large and medium-sized deals, contributed to the development of new products for capital market solutions and has successfully attracted new clients. Before joining IDB Invest, Marco worked for over 6 years in France at EY, Rothschild and HSBC advising clients on buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions, valuations and providing other consulting and advisory services. Marco holds a master’s degree in finance & Strategy from SciencesPo Paris. He is fully proficient in Spanish, French and English and has a basic knowledge of Portuguese.