Community
The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a community of innovators from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Search current members and alumni by year awarded, sector or region.

Salvador Paiz
Salvador Paiz is President of FunSEPA, a foundation which is improving the quality of education in Guatemala by leveraging technology. FunSEPA has installed over 26,313 computers in over 1,624 public schools, and has trained and certified over 86,000 public school teachers (over 55% of the total teacher population) on the usage of technology as a teaching tool. FunSEPA is in the process of rolling out Na'at, a revolutionary teacher training platform which does not require connectivity.
Paiz is also Director of the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA) and works on the Mejoremos Guate initiative, a holistic development agenda for the country with short-term actionable projects. Key projects and initiatives include: Roadway Infrastructure Legislative Proposal, Crime Stoppers Guatemala, Guatemala Visible, Criminal Justice Flowchart, among others.
On the business side, Paiz is the Co-Chairman of Grupo PDC, a holding company with interests in distribution and real estate finance throughout Central America.
Paiz obtained a Bachelor's degree with honours from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Business as a Martin Trust Merit Scholar. His econometric work on the topic of contagion has been published.

Roberto Patiño
Roberto is a Venezuelan social entrepreneur focused on democracy and human rights. He holds a master’s in public policy from Harvard University and a BS in manufacturing engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar. Patiño is the founder of the NGOs Mi Convive and Alimenta La Solidaridad that work in 240 vulnerable communities empowering +4,500 women volunteers to feed daily 25,000 children and reduce violence in hot spots. Patiño is an expert in citizen security, negotiation, and conflict resolution with studies on mediation at ETH Zurich. Roberto is a boardmember of Primero Justicia, a political party. He is a former leader of the student movement. He currently resides in Caracas, Venezuela.

Enrique Peña Nieto
Enrique Peña Nieto joined public service at an
early age, occupying several positions in the
government of the State of Mexico. From 2000 to
2002, he was Secretary of Administration and
from 2003 to 2004, he was elected Representative
of the 13th District in the 65th Session of the
State of Mexico, where he was Coordinator of the
Parliamentary Group of the Institutional
Revolutionary Party. In 2005, Enrique Peña Nieto ran for the
governorship of the State of Mexico. During his
campaign, he toured the state, listening to people
and signing commitments before a notary,
ranging from remodeling clinics and schools to
building roads and hospitals.
After a successful campaign, he was elected
govern or of the State of Mexico, during the
period from 16 September 2005 to 15 September
2011.
During his term as governor, Enrique Peña Nieto
achieved significant progress in infrastructure and
public services, particularly in health. He
restructured finances in the State of Mexico,
reducing public debt and increasing expenditure
targeting works and programs, without the need
to increase taxes. In 2011, at the end of his term as governor,
Enrique Peña Nieto expressed his hopes of
running for the presidency. After an intense
electoral campaign, characterized by the signing
of national and state commitments, he won the
elections on 1 July 2012.
As of 1 December, Enrique Peña Nieto is
President of Mexico. The main objective of his
government will ensure that the rights that the
Constitution confers on Mexicans move from
paper into practice.

Mia Perdomo
Mia Perdomo is an entrepreneur, activist and feminist. She is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aequales, a company that provides tools for organizations to close their gender gaps through measurement, consultancy and technology. She is also the Co-Creator of Par Ranking, the largest corporate gender equality ranking in Latin America. She was named one of the 100 transforming women of Colombia, one of the 101 people that are changing the world of work by the BBC, and one of the most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company. She received a degree in Psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia and an MSc in human rights from the London School of Economics. She is also a Global Competitive Leadership Program Fellow at Georgetown University and an ECLA Program Fellow at Columbia University's Business School. She loves nature, dancing, and is curious about anything that brings passion to people's lives.

Rodrigo Pérez-Alonso
Partner at Koalsulting, a firm specializing in public and government affairs. Former Executive Director of the National Air Transportation Chamber in Mexico, a major industry association for air transportation in Mexico. Law degree, ITAM; MSc in Public Policy, UCL; MPA, Harvard Kennedy School. Formerly Served in the Mexican Congress (2009-2012), in the Presidential Transition Team and as Director of Regulatory Affairs for Televisa, among other positions.
Specializes in law, policy and regulation of network and regulated industries.
Accomplished weekly columnist for Excelsior Newspaper and weekly commentary on national TV and radio for Grupo Imagen. Young Global Leader 2013 of the World Economic Forum. Law Degree (ITAM). MSc In Public Policy (UCL), Master in Public Administration (Harvard University).
An executive with more than 17 years experience in managing teams in the public and private sectors; regulatory affairs, legislation, regulation, finance and economics.
Until May of 2019, he served as the Executive Director of the National Air Transportation Chamber (CANAERO), a private industry association with a 52-year history that represents 67 national, international, and cargo airlines, as well as aviation service providers and private air taxi operators. He manages an annual budget of US$500,000 and seven staff members. Under his tenure, eight new members have been affiliated at CANAERO including Airbus. Participated in negotiations on behalf of the industry for the New International Airport, fuel market liberalization and passenger taxes.
Previously served as Director of Financial Planning and Evaluation at Telecomm-Telégrafos, a state-run telecommunications company with more than 15,000 employees (federal government’s satellites and its fiber optic backbone). Federal Congressman in the LXI Legislature where he chaired the Special Committee on Digital Access and served as Senior Member in the Economics Committee. In the private sector, he worked as a lawyer in various top-tier firms, as Director of Regulatory Affairs at Televisa Corporacion and as a partner at Techonomics, where he advised various companies.
In March 2013 the World Economic Forum selected him as a member of the Forum of Young Global Leaders. Since 2010 he is a national columnist in Excelsior (Opinion, Money) and has written for magazines such as Forbes Mexico. Select speaking engagements at events organized by Forbes Mexico, the World Economic Forum and Harvard Business Review.
Alternative name spelling: Rodrigo Perez-Alonso, Rodrigo Perez Alonso

Carlo Perez-Arizti
Carlo Perez-Arizti is a Partner at Baker McKenzie's Mexico City office, focusing on large national and international mergers and acquisitions, and on scaling up start-ups in Mexico and Latin America. He has worked at the firm for over 17 years in Mexico and New York City, and was promoted to partner at age 32. He is Mexico and Latin America’s head for innovation for the North America transactional practice Group. For his legal work, he has been recognized by Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Latin Lawyer. Perez-Arizti co-founded Fundacion Participacion y Accion Ciudadana, an education and health NGO, and abogadoemprendedor.com, a free legal advice for startups. He has also been a mentor at a number of organizations, including Endeavor Mexico, SUM, MassChallange, AbogadasMX and Centro Mexicano Pro Bono. Perez-Arizti is regularly published by Tier 1 publications for his views on Mexico and Latin America’s entrepreneurial growth, including Reforma, Forbes, el Heraldo de Mexico, and Pro Magazine. He is a Member of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem and of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. Perez-Arizti graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana. He also has a master's in Public Management from the London School of Economics, where he was a Chevening and CONACYT scholar.

Marta Pinheiro
Before becoming a partner/Director, Marta was head of business development, leading a team focused on innovation, management and transformation of XP Inc. businesses. Previous to XP Inc, Marta worked worked in strategy and management consulting. She holds a degree in public administration. She is the leader of the MLHR3 group, which was responsible for XP Inc. commitment to reach 50% women in all hierarchical levels by 2025.

Juan Jose Pocaterra
Economist and Lawyer, tech entrepreneur focused on smart cities, urban analytics, mobility and urban development. Co-Founder and CEO of Vikua. Co-Founder of La Wawa.
Vikua is a Govtech Startup recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the Top 30 Most Promising Companies of Latin America and among the Top 100 Govtech Startups of the Iberoamerican region. We transform emerging cities into smart cities by harnessing the power of 4IR technologies such as internet of things, big data, and artificial intelligence. Its URBO® platform (urbo.vikua.com) allows cities to automate and remotely operate urban services in the areas of traffic, public transportation, waste management, public works, public lighting and environmental risks.
La Wawa is a private transportation and mobility app that is transforming the way people commute daily to and from work.
He is a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Entrepreneurship; Young Global Leaders 2018 cohort; Global Shaper Alumni of the Caracas Hub. Venezuelan representative to the White House Emerging Entrepreneurs Initiative and the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India. Member of the Board of Directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Venezuela (AJE).

Luisa Ribeiro
Luisa Ribeiro is the CEO and co-founder of Regenativ, funder and manager of regenerative ventures on natural sanctuaries. From 2018 to 2020 she acted as the CEO of Recode/ CDI Global, a social organization focused on digital empowerment of underprivileged youth. She founded and led two of Brazil’s most prominent start-up accelerators, Papaya Ventures and Gema Ventures, and supported large corporations on implementing innovation strategies and corporate start-up accelerator programs in the last decade.
BEng, MBA from INSEAD, Luisa currently lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Juan Carlos Rincón
Juan Carlos Rincón is an Opinion Editor at El Espectador, Colombia's oldest and most respected newspaper. He also a Co-Founder of YouTube channel La Pulla, a political opinion show he runs with four fellow journalists. In 2016, the La Pulla team received the Simón Bolivar National Prize, the country’s most prestigious journalism award, for a video championing the right of same-sex couples to adopt children. Rincón also co-founded other digital projects, including Las Igualadas and La Puesverdad, which have helped change the media landscape in Colombia and Latin America by merging more traditional journalism with new formats and digital languages.

Viridiana Rios
Viridiana Rios is an expert in Mexico’s sub-national economy, citizen security and rule of law. Her career has taken her from positions as a public officer and applied researcher, to entrepreneur and journalist. She has served as an adviser to Mexico’s Minister of Finance and to the Mexican President’s spokeswoman. She was awarded the 2014 American Political Science Award to the best doctoral dissertation written in the last two years. She also received Harvard’s Merit Fellowship for Outstanding Research in 2011, was selected as one of the top-12 young experts by NBER’s Working Group of the Economics of Crime in 2012 and profiled at Harvard Gazette as one of the 15 Harvard’s stellar graduates of 2013.

Maria Nelly Rivas
Maria Nelly Rivas is Cargill's Government Relations Vice President in Latina America. Former Assistant Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Previously she was the Central American coordinator for the United Nations World Tourism Organization. In the past she was a partner at Crea Comunicaciones. Prior to Crea, she was Minister of Tourism of Nicaragua. As Minister, she was in charge of promoting, developing and expanding tourism in Nicaragua. Under her leadership, tourism became the top revenue generator for the country. Previously, she was associate director of PRONicaragua, Nicaragua's investment promotion agency. Before joining PRONicaragua, Maria served as senior strategic media planner at multi-national advertising agency McCann-Erickson in New York City and Buenos Aires. While at McCann-Erickson, she managed accounts such as Coca-Cola and Starmedia. In New York, she was responsible for overseeing the agency's network in Latin America while managing quality standards and service for its international clientele. During her post in Buenos Aires, she was responsible for more than US$40 million in media investment. She holds a BA in communications from Queens College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She was born in Granada, Nicaragua and resides in Managua with her family. She is a Fellow of the second class of the Central America Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.