Latin America Leadership Program

On January 27, 2020, Georgetown University's Latin America Leadership Program (LALP) opened the 14th edition of its Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (GCL) at Georgetown University. 

On January 17, 2020, the president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, appointed GCL 2009 alumn José Javier de la Gasca López as the new Secretary for Anticorruption. In his new role, José will be responsible for designing new public policies to stop and denounce corruption cases.

The Corporation for Development of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CODEIS), a social enterprise founded and led by Ecuadorian GCL 2019 alum Francisco Abad, was awarded the Global Youth Empowerment Grant and recognized with the first place of the “Quito Sostenible y Responsable 2019" Prize.

ILG 2019 alumni Deninson Mendoza (Colombia) and Agustin Pesce (Argentina) joined ILG 2019 Edgar Colman and other ILG 2019 alumni in Paraguay to share their experiences on financing and entrepreneurship assistance at the First National Summit of Entrepreneurs.

The GCL Alumni Network celebrated its 10th year anniversary during its annual reunion in Brazil.  The program, which started on Wednesday, November 6, in Brasília followed by a 3-day program in Porto Alegre, included renowned speakers, a visit to Ling institute, and various sightseeing and…

More than 4,500 Panamanians benefit from the water filtration system distributed by the Pura Panama Project. The Pura Panama Project, a project co-funded by GCL 2018 Gabriel Rebollón, MD and Daniel Sessa, started in 2017 in the Republic of Panama intending to improve access and water quality in…

On Friday, October 4, 2019, the sixth cohort of Georgetown University's Innovation & Leadership in Government program (ILG) celebrated their graduation. This cohort was represented by 23 public mangers from more than 10 Latin American countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican…

In October 2019, María Antonieta Alva, a Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (GCL) alumna, was appointed Peru's new Minister of Economy and Finance, replacing Carlos Oliva.

The 6th edition of Georgetown University's Innovation & Leadership in Government opened on September 16th with 23 policymakers from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Upon completion of the program, they will become active…

In 2019, BBC featured two GCL2014 alumni, Mia Perdomo from Colombia and Andrea de la Piedra from Peru,  for their GCL project Aequales as one of the "101 Ways Work is Changing Today." Founded five years ago, Aequales launched the first-ever gender equality ranking system for companies in Latin…

Watch videos of GCL 2019 students talking about their GCL experience. Featured: Anyela Hurtado (Panama), Ivan Matovich (Argentina), Jennifer Ponce (Peru), Lorena Gomez (Colombia), Rafael Ottaiano (Brazil), and Sebastian Flores (Ecuador).

Ideas for Argentina 2030, edited by GCL 2015 alum Antonio Beun, compiles 50 diverse and complementary texts by young Argentinean experts, including two GCL alumni, who answer the question: what should we be discussing today vis a vis Argentina 2030?

Esmirna Mosquera Uribe, GCL 2015 from Chocó Colombia, and Specialist on Entrepreneurship and Employment for the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), works directly with Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities (ADI) in Colombia’s most vulnerable regions.

GCL 2012 from Uruguay, Nicolas Albertoni, presents his new book Uruguay Como Solución on how to achieve consensuses and move from intention to action for a more prosperous Uruguay and Latin American region. This book was awarded the GCL Seal 2019.

Luis Rodríguez, ILG 2017 has been named Presidential Commissioner of Strategic Projects of El Salvador to help redesign the strategy of the newly elected government.

ILG alumni will travel to Cali this September for their 5th annual reunion, which will focus on "Migration Crisis in Latin America: Roads to Change." GCL alumni are also invited to join in and attend all public events. 

The GCL community is proudly working with the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) to support the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas (TIC Americas 2019) through thematic webinars and as a jury of the finalist projects.

On May 23-24, 2019, GCL 2019 alums Paula Mosera (Uruguay), Gustavo Rodriguez (Mexico), and Francisco Abad (Ecuador) successfully implemented the social entrepreneurship workshop “Innovating in Civil Society” in Tampico, Mexico. The workshop was organized by Fundación Fleishman and GT Global.

In May and June 2019, the “Programa Líderes de Impacto Global” (PLIG) was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, a project led by Felipe Paullier, GCL 2017 alumnus based on his Georgetown University's Global Competitiveness Leadership Program experience.

Lorena Gomez, GCL 2019 from Colombia, was awarded the Best Radio Story Award of Semana's Regional Journalism Awards for "On the Banks of the Sangoyaco," a co-production with Joaquin Uribe, which retells the 2017 Mocoa avalanche and its aftermath.

GCL alumnus 2009, Federal Deputy Marcel van Hattem (NOVO-RS) was awarded the Order of Rio Branco with the rank of Grand Officer, being the only Gaucho congressman to be awarded the Order on this occasion.

Rosa María Payá, GCL 2014 from Habana Cuba, promoter of the citizen initiative Cuba Decide was recognized with the highest Human Rights Award at the 2019 UN Watch Annual Gala Dinner.

Waldemar Peralta (ILG 2017, Bolivia) recently published his book "Elefantes en Tarija" in which he applies some of the tools learned during the Innovation & Leadership in Government Program (ILG) of Georgetown University's Latin America Leadership Program.

Nubia Santofimio (ILG 2014, Colombia) led knowledge management work and supported the first development model of the Digital Public Innovation Center, which was recently recognized as one of the best public service teams of 2018 by Apolitical. 

Emilio E. Rescigno, (ILG 2017, Argentina) served as National Director of Productive Articulation (2015-2018) where he was responsible for designing and implementing multilevel articulation programs for productive development at the local level.

GCL alum Manuel Carranza presented the book Lideroamerica, Lessons on Leadership in Latin America, a project by GCL 2018 alumni Bryan Avendaño  (Colombia), Gabriela Vallejo (Ecuador), Manuel Carranza (El Salvador), Alvaro Gonzalez (Venezuela).

The Global Competitiveness Leadership Program 2019 graduation took place at the Riggs Library on Friday, March 29. Thirty-six participants from 15 Ibero-American countries graduated from this 10-week program which aims to empower emerging leaders to become strong agents of change in Latin America.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recognized four GCL alumni who are leading technology education in Latin America: Daniela Galindo Bermúdez (GCL 2016, Colombia), Mercedes Werner (GCL 2014, Argentina), Allison Silva (GCL 2009, Bolivia), and Gabriela Gaona (GCL 2019, Paraguay).

GCL Impact Award 2019 was granted to two alumni, Melina Masnatta, GCL 2017, and Sofia Contreras, GCL 2016, from Argentina for their project Chicas en Tecnologia, a non-profit organization that seeks to advance the digital transformation and close the gender gap in the region.

On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, the Latin America Leadership Program welcomed to its Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (GCL) 36 young leaders from 15 Ibero-American countries, who developed and advanced their GCL projects to implement in their countries at the end of the program.

LALP opened nominations for the GCL Impact Award 2019. Former winners included GCL alumni David Smolansky (Venezuela), Soledad Nuñez (Paraguay), Pablo Jaramillo (Colombia), Alvaro Henzler (Peru), Felipe Dib (Brazil), and Alejandro Barja (Bolivia). 

GCL alumni Kenneth Gent (GCL 2014, Chile), Carolina Escallon (GCL 2015, Colombia), and Andres Aramayo (GCL 2015, Bolivia) collaborate to promote significant learning and skills development in order to close the literacy gap in Latin America.

Global Americans launched in 2018 the first edition of the New Generation of Public Intellectuals featuring GCL alumni whose experience and research have started to transcend public policy discourse in Latin America.  

Isabela Christo (GCL 2017) is the first Brazilian woman ever to be awarded the highly competitive Schwarzman Scholarship for global leaders to pursue a master's degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Melina Masnatta (GCL 2017) and Sofia Contreras (GCL 2016) work at closing the gender gap in technology by inspiring, training, and mentoring the next generation of women leaders in technology and leading social impact in the region. 

Manuel Laredo (GCL 2016, Bolivia), general manager and founder of Mamut, was recognized as one of the most important leaders in Bolivia for his business leadership.

From October 11th through October 14th, 2018, Georgetown University hosted its third International Alumni Weekend (IAW) in Mexico City. To commemorate this ocassion, Latin American Board members traveled to Mexico to hold its biannual meeting and participate in the various weekend activities. 

ILG Alumni have now a new online platform to interact and connect with the ILG and GCL networks. The app is also available for Android devices here. 

The new app for GCL alumni is now available. GCL alumni can download the app for Android or for Apple and login in with their credentials to update their profiles and include information on their current projects. 

The GCL Alumni Network celebrated their 10th annual reunion in Antigua, Guatemala from October 29-31, 2018.  The reunion was attended by Professor Ricardo Ernst, LALP Executive Director, and Latin American Board member, Dionisio Gutierrez.

The ILG Alumni Network (115 participants, 16 countries) hosted their annual reunion at Georgetown University from September 26-28, 2018. Representatives from the five ILG cohorts attended the various events.

LALP executive director Professor Ernst opened the first edition of the Program of Global Impact Leadership (PLIG 2018), a project of GCL2017 alumnus from Uruguay and GCL Seal recipient Felipe Paullier.

Congratulations to our latest GCL Seal certificate recipients: Sangre Panama, an initiative of Gabriel Rebollon from Panama, and Charly.io, a project of Maria Alejandra Lopez from Colombia. Learn more about these and other GCL Seal recipients here.

On April 26, 2018, Juan Sebastián Rozo Rengifo (ILG 2017) was commissioned as minister of information and communication technologies (MINTIC) of Colombia.  Previously, he served as vice-minister of connectivity and digitalization.

The graduation took place at the Riggs Library last March 29. Thirty-four participants from 19 countries graduated from this 10-week program that empowers emerging leaders to become agents of change in Latin America. Welcome to the GCL Network!

Smolansky’s efforts for the defense of democracy and human rights have inspired many in Venezuela and around the world. They are a clear example of GCL's mission to generate positive change with a multiplier effect in the region.

On January 26, Helga Hernandez, ILG 2015 alumn, was appointed vice minister for preschool, elementary, and middle school education. During her time at ILG, she worked as regional articulation leader for Colciencias (Administrative Department of Science, Innovation and Technology).

ILG 2016 Alumnus was awarded the AsiaGlobal Fellowship by the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong. Adolfo Argüello was part of the inaugural thirteen-week residential program for up to 16 mid-career international professionals.

From October 27 to 29, 2016, Georgetown University's Latin American Board (LAB) celebrated the Tenth Anniversary of the Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (GCL) with an annual GCL Alumni Reunion on campus.