About the blog

Almudena Carrasco

Almudena Carrasco is a Portfolio Management Officer specialized in financial institutions at BID Invest, where she monitors the execution of loans, guarantees, equity investments, short-term trade lines and structured products in countries throughout the region. She has over 10 years of experience in portfolio management, although she has been at the IDB Group for almost 20 years. Almudena holds a B.S. in Finance and International Business from University of Maryland and an M.S. in Finance from John’s Hopkins University.

Alonso Chaverri Suárez

Alonso is the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group Representative in Paraguay and Vice Chairperson of the IDB Group Sanctions Committee. A Costa Rican national, he has served the IDB since 2004 across legal and operational roles focused on development finance, sovereign-guaranteed operations, and partnerships with donors and co-financiers. 

Before his current post, Alonso served as Senior Operations Advisor to the IDB President, contributing to the design and rollout of IDB Impact+, the Group’s strategy to scale impact and results across Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, he was Lead Counsel in the Sovereign-Guaranteed Operations Division of the IDB’s Legal Department, advising on the preparation and supervision of loans and guarantees, as well as on new financial products, technical cooperation, and reimbursable advisory services. He began his IDB career in Corporate Legal Affairs, specializing in donor and co-financier agreements. Alonso holds a Ph.D. in Administrative Law (summa cum laude) from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Law degree from the University of Costa Rica.

Álvaro Romero Danés

Álvaro Romero Danés is a civil engineer. He is the Director of the Water Business Line at NTT Data, with more than 13 years of experience in companies such as Canal de Isabel II and Indra. He has been responsible for transformational projects across the entire value chain of the integrated water cycle for different public and private clients in Europe and Latin America. Álvaro strongly believes that water management from engineering and digitalization will help to build a bright future for water as a driver of the green economy.

Ana Lucia Escudero

Ana Lucía Escudero tiene 13 años de experiencia en comunicación estratégica y desarrollo internacional. Desde 2012, ha trabajado como especialista en comunicación del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, donde entrega asesoría en comunicación estratégica para las operaciones del sector privado del Banco en toda América Latina y el Caribe. Previamente, trabajó por cinco años en la agencia global de relaciones públicas Burson-Marsteller, donde lideró campañas de concientización al público para el gobierno de Estados Unidos, instituciones multilaterales y clientes Fortune 500. En Perú, Ana Lucía trabajó para el Consejo Nacional de Descentralización del gobierno y fue periodista de planta para la revista Caretas. Ana Lucía ama la fotografía en blanco y negocio y el jazz clásico.

Ana María Zárate Moreno

Ana María Zárate Moreno is a senior specialist in the Connectivity, Markets, and Finance Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). 

She is an economist from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and holds a master’s degree in public policy with an emphasis in regulatory policy from George Washington University. 

Her current work focuses on the access to finance of small and medium-sized enterprises, financial regulation and regulatory innovations, digital payments, open finance, and digital financial inclusion.

Previously, she worked at Colombia’s National Planning Department, the World Bank’s Doing Business team, and the Center for Regulatory Studies at George Washington University.

Ana Rogers

Ana Rogers joined IDB Invest in 2024 as a Change Management consultant in the Strategy, Planning and Synergies Division where she supports initiatives that generate knowledge and promote collaboration and knowledge sharing on priority areas. Before joining IDB Invest, Ana worked as a Program Manager at Training Resources Group, designing and implementing high-impact programs across international organizations such as USAID, the World Bank, DAI and the White House. She has led initiatives that promote an enabling environment and expand opportunities for women through strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and policy development. Ana has managed projects that support women’s access to land rights, economic resources, and leadership training, ensuring sustainable impact in diverse global contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East. She holds a Master’s in International Commerce and Public Policy from George Mason University and a Bachelor’s in International Business from Marymount University.

Ana Rosa Echeverri

Ana Rosa is the Private Sector Coordinator of the Andean Region (CAN). In this position, she has given support to the private sector through the inclusion in the IDB Group's country strategies the implementation activities of the prioritized private sectors. She coordinates the integration of IDB Invest, IDB and IDB Lab teams from various areas, to produce more complete projects, providing more complete financial and knowledge solutions. Ana Rosa supports the development of markets, products, and tools for the private sector of the countries of the Andean region. Ana Rosa was an Investment Officer in Financial Institutions at IDB Invest since 2015. Her main achievements in this position were to originate and structure financial solutions to financial institutions in the region, leading the IDB Group's sustainability agendas on issues such as green, social and gender finance, digitalization and inclusion. During her career at the IDB Group, she has been a Project Portfolio Officer and has been in charge of the credit risk analysis of financial operations in the Transportation, Manufacturing, sectors among others. Prior to joining the IDB Group, she was Vice President of the rating agency Bank Watch Ratings of Colombia and Director of the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit of the Financial Superintendence of Colombia. She also worked with the Foreign Trade Bank of Colombia Bancoldex, in the area of financing regional banks with foreign trade and rediscount lines. Ana Rosa holds a master degree in Finance from Birbeck College, University of London (United Kingdom), as well as a specialization in Investment Project Evaluation from the Universidad de los Andes and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Universidad Javeriana (Colombia). She is currently pursuing a master degree in Sustainable Development at the Universidad de los Andes.

Ana Vera

Ancor Suárez-Alemán

Economist, PhD., BA., with over 15 years of working experience in the field of infrastructure economics and policy. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Senior Specialist at the Vice-presidency for Countries at the Inter-American Development Bank Group. Currently leading the infrastructure PPP upstream public-sector support at the IDB, advising 26 Latin America and the Caribbean Governments on upstream (PPP regulatory and institutional framework, infrastructure planning and prioritization, coordination between Public Investment Management and PPP Units, Capacity building); downstream/operations (infrastructure project preparation and structuring, with a focus on port transactions); and infrastructure PPP knowledge development and dissemination activities. Manager of the LAC Regional Network on Analysis and Best Practices on PPPs. IDB Project Manager for the Infrascope development – analysis of the enabling environment for efficient and sustainable PPP in LAC social and economic infrastructure (energy, telecom, transport, social infrastructure, water and sanitation), an IDBG and The Economist Impact joint initiative. In the past, I worked at the Infrastructure and Energy Department at the IDB developing and coordinating key infrastructure knowledge and strategic products related to infrastructure investment, financing, governance, regulation, and performance, among other areas. Before that, I worked at The World Bank in the transport practice, where I developed transport knowledge outcomes such as the first port competitiveness report for the South Asia region. I have advised public and private sectors in Europe, South Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to my career in Washington D.C. (USA), I contributed to various European Cooperation in Science and Technology projects on business models for enhancing funding and enabling financing of infrastructure projects, as well as national and regional infrastructure investment projects. I completed my PhD focusing on Port Competitiveness and the European Maritime Transport Policy. I have authored and coordinated general and sector studies, and published over more than 100 works on infrastructure economics, policy, investment and financing, and PPP in various journals and other specialized publications.

Andre Almeida Pamponet Moura

Andre Almeida Pamponet Moura is a senior Debt Capital Markets and Structured Finance (DCM & SF) professional with dual expertise in Finance and Law. With over 15 years of experience in business development, structuring of innovative financial transactions, leadership in complex projects, and successful client relationship management, Andre has ample exposure to several domestic and international financial markets across Latam and EMEA. Andre is certified in ESG Investing by the CFA Institute and has hands-on expertise in Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG) topics, impact investing and development finance. Andre holds a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and an MBA Degree from INSEAD (France/Singapore).

Andreas Smith Jørgensen

Andreas is an Environmental and Social Officer for Climate Change at IDB Invest. He works with aligning IDB Invest projects with the mitigation and adaptation goals of the Paris Agreement and supporting clients in managing climate-related risks and impacts. Prior to IDB Invest, he worked at the intersection of climate and development in various roles in Danish civil society, at the Danish parliament, and across the Middle East. Andreas holds a BA in communication and an MSc in sociology and climate policy from Copenhagen Business School and La Sapienza University of Rome.

Andres Felipe Caicedo

Andrés Caicedo is an investment expert in in the telecommunications and technology. He is an Investment Officer at IDB Invest, based in Mexico City. He has extensive experience in the origination, structuring, and portfolio management of debt and equity transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining BID Invest, he served as an Investment Officer at the IFC (World Bank), focusing on the TMT, Manufacturing, and Funds sectors for the Andean region and Mexico. Andrés holds a degree in economics from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and an MBA from IE Business School.