Latin America Leadership Program

Dear friends,

LALP’s annual reports showcase what we have accomplished together in the past year, but they also offer us a moment to reflect on our journey, including our achievements, our challenges, and, most importantly, the opportunities ahead and the people who have joined us along the way. For this reason, we are deeply grateful for the commitment and support of everyone who helps ensure that our regionally-focused executive education programs continue to shape and transform leaders across the region and build networks of impact.

During the academic year from July 2024 to June 2025, LALP welcomed diverse cohorts of GCL, ILG, and GBEL leaders. With every flagship program, participants worked with university faculty, key experts, and mentors to develop their projects and advance innovative solutions that address the needs of their organizations, communities, and countries. This year, coinciding with the launch of the new GBEL program, LALP redesigned its visual identity and those of its flagship programs to align with Georgetown University's new image guidelines. Additionally, we launched a new service for our alumni networks, providing secure and easily accessible digital program certificates via Accredible.

The inaugural edition of our Global Business Executive Leadership (GBEL) program, designed to support the region’s private sector, was a success. It welcomed 21 business leaders from 12 countries who applied their program knowledge of key topics such as global operations management, strategic leadership, adaptability and innovation, and business sustainability into projects for their organizations. In April, we also launched the second edition of this flagship offering, which will conclude in July 2025. Like the first cohort, it has been inspiring to see the connections and learning shared by this new group, both in virtual sessions and in-person modules in Panama City, Panama, and Washington, D.C., where participants are gaining tools to make informed decisions and develop actionable business projects and initiative proposals to drive their companies’ success in today’s dynamic and interconnected world.

This academic year, our Innovation and Leadership in Government (ILG) program celebrated its 11th edition, welcoming 27 leaders from the public, multilateral, and social sectors across 13 countries. The ILG 2024 participants’ projects focused on themes such as technology, innovation, governance and rule of law, education, civic engagement, sustainability, and the environment. At the graduation ceremony, we were honored to host guests such as ILG alumnus Daniel Morales from BANECUADOR BP, who received the ILG Impact Award in recognition of his long-standing leadership in innovative initiatives in Ecuador. For ILG 2025, we will welcome Isabel Tarrisse da Fontoura, recipient of this year´s ILG Impact Award, for her leadership in the strategic development and growth of ColaboraGov, an innovative inter-ministerial collaboration model in Brazil.

In January, we launched the 19th edition of our Global Competitiveness Leadership (GCL) program, with 30 participants from 14 countries and 23 cities across the region. The GCL 2025 projects span 20 different areas, covering sectors such as agriculture, sustainability, education, finance, entrepreneurship, and public policy. On the final day of the program, we were honored to have Felipe Paullier, GCL alumnus and United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs and recipient of the GCL Impact Award, whose dedication to youth and public service stands out. With this cohort, our LALP alumni network has reached 978 graduates.

Next year, LALP will celebrate new milestones as GCL marks its 20th anniversary, and our alumni network is expected to surpass the 1,000 graduates mark. As such, we are planning a special event in Washington, D.C. with our alumni, faculty, and special guests to commemorate this important occasion. This event will take place in the fall of 2026. More information to come. We hope you will join us to celebrate these important milestones.

We are sincerely grateful to each member of the Georgetown University community, our faculty, staff, and students, as well as all our LALP Advisory Committee members, program sponsors, guest speakers, participants, and alumni, who help make these programs possible and help us build impactful networks in the region with a positive multiplier effect. I hope you enjoy this review of our most recent academic year.

Sincerely,
Ricardo Ernst

As part of Georgetown University's continuous commitment to Latin America, the Latin America Leadership Program (LALP) designs and implements three annual flagship programs for regional leaders- the Global Competitiveness Leadership (GCL) program, the Innovation and Leadership in Government (ILG) program, and the Global Business Executive Leadership (GBEL) program. These long-standing and internationally renowned executive education programs have become a landmark of Georgetown University's engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean, and they have resulted in a growing and impactful regional platform for leaders spanning all sectors whose projects are generating a multiplier effect across the region.

Our LALP alumni are applying their program experience to collaborate among themselves and pay it forward to positively transform the region through the implementation of their projects. In this section, you can meet the current presidents of our LALP alumni networks, learn about our alumni annual reunions and initiatives, get to know our latest GCL and ILG Impact Awardees, and read some of the latest stories featuring our program alumni.

In collaboration with other Georgetown University's centers and student associations, LALP alumni, and external partners, LALP promotes a deeper understanding of the Latin American region through public dialogues that address key themes of governance, rule of law, economic growth, and innovation that support the university’s engagement with the region.

Georgetown University's Journal of Globalization, Competitiveness, and Governability (GCG), published three times a year, is a digital academic journal that aims to become a source of new ideas about the effects of globalization on the competitiveness and governability of businesses and countries in Latin America, and particularly on the tools available to governments and companies to design better strategies to benefit their respective businesses and countries.