About the blog

Felipe Macia

Felipe is Lead Investment Officer, Resource Mobilization at IDB Invest. He is a banking executive with over 25 years experience managing syndicated transactions in trade finance, project finance, asset-based finance, and corporate finance for clients in Latin America.

Fermín Vivanco

Fermín Vivanco has 30 years of experience in inclusive finance and entrepreneurship-related initiatives. At BID Lab, he has been a thematic leader in financial inclusion and silver finance, leading and publishing studies and articles on various topics. In 2015, he led the design and approval of the regional project "Inclusive Pension Savings: From Access to Use," which laid the groundwork for creating the Retirement Savings Laboratory. He later participated in the Digital Social Security Laboratory, a joint initiative of both BID Lab and the IDB Labor Markets and Social Security Division. Previously, he was Senior Director of Operations at ACCION International in Boston and Mexico City. He holds a Philosophy and Education Sciences degree from the University of Deusto and a Master's in Business Administration from Northeastern University.

Fernando Cubillos

Fernando led the IDB Invest Energy team until 2023, where he joined in 2017. He was responsible for the development of strategies, business plans, client management and structuring of transactions in the Energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining the IDB Group, Fernando was a Managing Partner of Antuko, a firm specialized in Energy in Chile and Mexico, where he led innovative marketing structures for renewable energies. Previously, he led the Environmental Markets practice for Latin America at J.P. Morgan. He has more than twenty-five years of experience in energy markets, with emphasis on the financing of energy and climate change projects. Fernando holds a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland (USA), as well as a degree and a bachelor's degree in Industrial Civil Engineering and Electricity from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Flavia Tinelli

Flavia Tinelli is the Impact Director at Acrux Partners, a firm specializing in impact investment in Latin America. She leads all impact assessment and management projects for the organization, including designing, developing, and implementing measurement, management, and reporting systems. Flavia supports various organizations in defining their impact strategies and designing suitable tools for their implementation. In her professional career, she served as the Coordinator of Consumer Policies at the Ministry of Production in Argentina, managing pricing programs and data use for the design of public policies. She holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Buenos Aires. She has completed specialization courses in Monitoring and Evaluation Tools for Social Impact Projects at UdeSA (Argentina) and the Impact Measurement Program at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (United Kingdom).

Gabriel Azevedo

Luiz Gabriel Todt de Azevedo (Gabriel Azevedo) is the Managing Director of the Social Environmental and Governance Division of IDB Invest. During his 35+ year career in international development, the private sector, academia, and civil society, he has developed a unique perspective on strategic leadership, political economy, partnerships, and collective action. He has held various leadership positions, including seven years as Managing Director of the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Division at IDB Invest. He has worked in development projects in more than forty-five countries, focusing on areas such as energy, water supply and sanitation, natural resource management, agribusiness, social innovation, and environmental management. He has worked in renowned institutions such as the World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund for Conservation (WWF), and Construtora Norberto Odebrecht.

Gabriel served as Board Member and Member of the Financing and Audit Committee of the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO). He was Vice Presidente and President of Brazilian Water Resources Association (ABRHidro) and seats on its Consultative Board. He is also an observer to the Board of the International Hydropower Association (IHA). He has received numerous awards in recognition of his professional achievements. Additionally, he has published numerous articles, short papers, blogs, and book chapters in his field of expertise.

Gabriel is a civil engineer from the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil and holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering - Hydrology and Water Resources Management from Colorado State University.

Gabriel Jiménez

Gabriel is the IDB Group Private Sector Coordinator for the Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic (CID) Region since 2022. In this role, Gabriel provides strategic support to IDB, IDB Invest and IDB Lab teams to generate and take advantage of operational synergies within the IDB Group and achieve better impact in the Region. Gabriel joined IDB Invest in 2018 as an Investment Officer for the Manufacture Unit where he originated, structured, and implemented financial solutions for clients in Ecuador, Chile, Panama and Uruguay, and prior to that worked in international development, corporate banking and auditing firms in the Americas. Gabriel is a Business Administration Engineer specialized in Finance from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, holds an MBA from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and has a Diploma in International Commerce from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Colombia.

Gabriela Aparicio

Gabriela Aparicio is a Development Effectiveness Officer in the Development Effectiveness Division (DVF) of IDB Invest, where she works in the structuring, supervision, and evaluation of projects in the manufacturing, tourism, and agroindustry sectors, as well as in the production of knowledge products. Prior to joining IDB Invest she worked as a consultant in the Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness, and the Research Department of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), and as a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank. She has a PhD in Economics from the George Washington University.

Gabriela Cavichioli

Gabriela is an investment officer in the Infrastructure and Energy Division at IDB Invest, based in São Paulo, Brazil. She has over ten years of experience in project and structured finance, specializing in infrastructure and energy projects, with a strong focus on water and sanitation, renewable energy, and social infrastructure in Brazil. Prior to joining IDB Invest in 2021, she served as an associate director in the Global Infrastructure Group credit analysis team at Fitch Ratings. Earlier in her career, she spent several years at Banco Santander Brasil, working in the Project and Structured Finance Division. Gabriela holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM) and an MBA in corporate treasury from the University of São Paulo (USP). She is also a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP).

Gabriela Mera

Gabriela es oficial de inversiones de BID Invest en la División de Instituciones Financieras, y está a cargo de la originación y estructuración de operaciones de financiamiento para el sector financiero y mercado de capitales en Ecuador. Tiene más más de 13 años de experiencia en la banca multilateral y ha liderado varios proyectos en los sectores financiero, de mercados de capitales y corporativo en América Latina y El Caribe. Antes de trabajar para BID Invest, Gabriela fue oficial de inversiones del sector privado del BID en Washington DC, donde estuvo a cargo del liderazgo de proyectos con instituciones financieras y empresas corporativas que buscaban atender las necesidades de la base de la pirámide socioeconómica en América Latina y el Caribe. Previo a esto, fue consultora financiera en el Departamento Fiduciario y de Adquisiciones del BID en Ecuador. Gabriela trabajó en el Departamento de Control Interno del ABN-Amro Bank, sucursal Ecuador y tiene un MBA en finanzas de la Johns Hopkins University y un posgrado del Programa de Desarrollo de Liderazgo para Gerentes de Minorías de la misma institución. También es ingeniera en administración de empresas y contadora pública, ambos títulos obtenidos en la Universidad Católica de Ecuador.

Gary Barker

Gary Barker, PhD, is a leading global voice in engaging men and boys in advancing gender equality and positive masculinities. He is the CEO and co-founder of Promundo-US, which has worked more than 10 years in nearly 40 countries. He is also co-founder of Instituto Promundo in Brazil, which began work on healthy masculinities and male allyship more than 20 years ago. Gary is co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign working in more than 50 countries to promote men’s involvement as caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 700 NGOs. He co-created and leads the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), the largest-ever survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality. He is a co-author of the 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 State of the World's Fathers reports. He has advised the UN, the World Bank, numerous national governments, and key international foundations and corporations on strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality. In 2017 he was named by Apolitical as one of the 20 most influential people in gender policy around the world. He is an Ashoka Fellow and received the Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices for his work to engage men for gender equality. He holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology and a Research Affiliate position at the Center for Social Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal.

Gastón Astesiano

Gastón Astesiano is Head of the Single Window for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the IDB's Vice Presidency for Countries. He joined the Bank in 2002 as part of the Young Professionals Program, in the Infrastructure Division of the Southern Cone. In 2007 he joined the Energy Division, where he was in charge of the development of energy projects. In 2011, he was appointed Operations Advisor of the Infrastructure Department, in charge of quality control of operations, management of the department's portfolio, and served as Coordinator of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). In September 2014, he was appointed Senior Advisor to the Vice Presidency of Countries, where he led the operational team in the design and implementation of corporate reforms such as: The New Guidelines for the preparation of Country Strategies of the IDB Group, The Regulation for the Incorporation of Parameters of Capital Adequacy in Financial Planning: Programming with Sovereign Guarantee Limits by Country and the Merger of the assets (U$5MM) of the Fund for Special Operations (FOE) to the Capital of the IDB. Since August 2017, he leads the IDB PPP Team, created to coordinate the IDB Group's technical assistance in PPP matters. He has a law degree from the Universidad Católica Argentina, is Master in Law (LLM) and Master in Economic Policy (MPA) from Columbia University.

Gema Sacristán

Gema Sacristán is IDB Invest's Chief Investment Officer. She joined the Inter-American Development Bank in 2008 as an Investment Officer in the Structured and Corporate Finance Department, where she subsequently became Chief of the Financial Markets Division. Prior to this role, she held various leadership positions in commercial and investment banking in Madrid, London and New York. Among them, she was the director of the Export and Agency Financing Unit for the Americas at BBVA New York and vice president and product manager in the area of Global Trade Finance at Banco Santander Nueva York.