Luis Alberto Moreno

Luis Alberto Moreno Mejía (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, May 3, 1953) is a Colombian diplomat, journalist and businessman of American origin. Former Minister of Economic Development; Former president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Likewise, prior to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, he was chosen as a member of the International Olympic Committee with 63 votes in favor, 13 against and 5 abstentions.

Biography

Luis Alberto Moreno is the son of Marta Mejía Pradilla and Bernardo Moreno Mejía, who was director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare under the government of Misael Pastrana and brother of Roberto Moreno Mejía, president and founder of the Amarilo construction company. Moreno is married to María Gabriela Sigala, a Venezuelan philanthropist. He has two children, Nicolás and Natalia.

He studied primary and high school at Colegio San Carlos, and was an advisor to the Colombian businessman Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo and Andrés Pastrana before the latter became the Presidency of Colombia. He was the manager of TV Hoy and has a degree in business administration and economics from Florida Atlantic University in 1975. Master in business administration (MBA) from the Thunderbird School of Global Management business school. He obtained a scholarship in the Nieman Fellowship program for journalists at Harvard University (1990-1991).

The mayor of Bogotá Hisnardo Ardila appointed him to the board of the Bogotá Telecommunications Company.

He was president of the Industrial Development Institute (IFI), between December 1991 and July 1992 and later the government of César Gaviria appointed him Minister of Economic Development (July 1992 and January 1994).

In 1998, the government of Andrés Pastrana appointed him as ambassador of Colombia to the government of the United States. During his period as ambassador, the relations between the two countries, deteriorated as a result of the scandals that shook them, were returned to their normal course. the election of Ernesto Samper as President of Colombia in 1994.

He was involved in the Chambacu corruption case as Minister of Development in the government of Andrés Pastrana, which affected officials from the administrations of César Gaviria and Ernesto Samper, in which the former Minister of Development, Fernando Araújo, was also accused. I am allowed to negotiate on favorable terms with the National Institute of Social Interest Housing and Urban Reform (INURBE), and the Consorcio Chambacú de Indias S.A., of which they were partners, a lot to develop a construction project called "Chambacú" evicting the extremely poor Afro-descendant population. 35 Afro-Colombian families were evicted and moved to the Papayal sector, for which no cadastral record appeared at the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute. During his 7-year kidnapping at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP), the charges against Fernando Araújo were barred, as were those against Luis Alberto Moreno.

Inter-American Development Bank

Luis Alberto Moreno was president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) until 2005 to 2020. As head of the IDB, he also chaired the Executive Board of IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the IDB Group, and the Donors Committee of IDB Lab, an innovation incubator for development.

Among the milestones of Moreno's administration are: the approval in 2007 of US$4.4 billion in debt relief for Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua, the most indebted member countries in the region; the approval in 2010 of the Ninth General Capital Increase, the largest increase in resources in the history of the Bank; the consolidation and expansion in 2016 of the Group's private sector operations under IDB Invest; the recapitalization of IDB Lab through historic contributions from the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2017; the launch of a special grant fund in 2019 to help countries integrate migrants into local communities and contribute to their development; and the institutional response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Under Moreno's leadership, the IDB played an increasingly relevant role in issues of health, education, digital connectivity and innovation, sustainable infrastructure development, renewable energy and the environment, resilience and climate adaptation, migration, sustainable cities, regional integration and markets at the base of the pyramid. The Business Dialogue of the Americas and ConnectAmericas, two platforms that promote cooperation and business between the countries of the hemisphere, were also launched and implemented.

International Olympic Committee

Being current president of the Inter-American Development Bank, he was elected representative member of the International Olympic Committee on August 4, this being one of the positions that he seeks to impact with his election by giving importance to the unity of sport within the framework of the development of America Latina with the world, stating:

“I have the honour to chair the main development bank in Latin America and one of the reasons why they invited me is that the Olympic Committee wants, as the legacy of the Olympics, to be much closer to the issues of development, issues on which the Inter-American Bank has been working for some time.” Luis Alberto Moreno”

Recognitions

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Boyacá, Colombia (2002).
• Doctorate Honoris Causa by Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru (2008).
• Doctorate Honoris Causa de la Universidad Icesi, Colombia (2011).
• Clinton Global Citizen Award in the category of Leadership in Public Service, United States (2012).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica, Spain (2016).
• Caballero Gran Cruz de la Orden Nacional al Mérito, Ecuador (2016).