Luis Alberto Moreno

Luis Alberto Moreno Mejía (born 3 May 1953) is a Colombian businessman and former diplomat. He was the Colombia's Ambassador to the United States under president Andrés Pastrana Arango and the former President of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial. He is the current President of the Inter-American Development Bank where he has served since 2005.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Moreno and the second or maternal family name is Mejía.

Luis Alberto Moreno
Moreno at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2011.
4th President of the Inter-American Development Bank
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2005
Preceded by	Enrique Valentín Iglesias García
29th Colombia Ambassador to the United States
In office 27 October 1998 – 27 June 2005
President	Andrés Pastrana Arango
Preceded by	Juan Carlos Esguerra Portocarrero
Succeeded by	Andrés Pastrana Arango
3rd Minister of Economic Development of Colombia
In office 5 July 1992 – 17 January 1994
President	César Gaviria Trujillo
Preceded by	Jorge Ospina Sardi
Succeeded by	Mauricio Cárdenas Santa María
Personal details
Born	(1953-05-03) 3 May 1953 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Nationality	Colombian
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Florida Atlantic University (BBA, 1975) Arizona State University (MBA, 1977)
Signature

Early life and education

Moreno was born in Philadelphia to a Colombian father who at the time was attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania.[1] He was raised in Bogota, where he studied at Colegio San Carlos and returned to the United States to attend college. He obtained bachelor's degrees in Business Administration and Economics from Florida Atlantic University in 1975 and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (now part of Arizona State University) in 1977.[2]

Career

Early career

Moreno was Executive Producer of "TV Hoy", an award-winning news program, from January 1982 to September 1990. For his distinguished work in the field of journalism, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship by Harvard University.[2]

Government

During the administration of Colombian President César Gaviria, Moreno worked in several cabinet positions. Moreno was the President of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial (IFI) which was a holding company for many of the largest state-owned enterprises. While at IFI, he pushed for a large privatization plan in the country.[3] He was later appointed Minister of Economic Development.[4]

In 1998, Moreno was named Colombia's Ambassador to the United States by newly elected president Andrés Pastrana Arango.[1] He was the ambassador for seven years and oversaw a dramatic improvement in Colombian-U.S. relations. He helped build bipartisan support in the United States Congress for passage of more than US$4 billion in U.S. assistance programs for Colombia.[1] He also worked on a free trade accord between Colombia and the United States.[1]

Inter-American Development Bank

In 2005, Moreno was nominated for president of the IDB by the administration of President Álvaro Uribe. He took office in October that same year. He was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2015.[5][6]

Awards

In 2017, he received the Distinguished Leadership Award for Social Equity from the Inter-American Dialogue.[7]

Personal life

Moreno is married to María Gabriela Sigala, a Venezuelan philanthropist. He has two children, Nicolas and Natalia. [8]

References

1. Shenon, Philip (2000-01-17). "Public Lives: With Roses, an Ambassador Polishes Colombia's Image". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-04-08.
2. Carlos, Famoso (5 March 2004). "El Correo de Dioselina para Colombia : Luis Alberto Moreno". El Correo (in Spanish).
3. "Luis Alberto Moreno". La Si A Vacia (in Spanish). 13 July 2016.
4. "Ambassador Pinzón Welcomes Re-election of IDB President Moreno to Third Term". Embassy of Colombia. 14 September 2015. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
5. Mungcal, Ivy. "Luis Alberto Moreno Re-elected as IDB President". devex.
6. "Observatory on Latin American Politics: Future Challenges with Luis Alberto Moreno". ie School of Global and Public Affairs. 22 May 2018.
7. "III Leadership for the Americas Awards Gala". The Dialogue. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
8. {{cite web url=https://www.iadb.org/en/about-us/departments/biographies/luis-alberto-moreno |website=IADB |language=English}

Preceded by Enrique V. Iglesias	President of the Inter-American Development Bank 2005–present	Succeeded by -