FOUNDATION
Mariana Sánchez de Ovando
Mariana was born in Puebla, Mexico and raised between Mexico City and Paris, France. She has been in New York City since 1995. She is a marketing executive who spent 20 years in the advertising agency industry leading Procter & Gamble brands globally with Publicis Groupe. She changed tracks in 2017 to become the Global VP of Marketing at the #1 prestige skin care company in North America, Rodan + Fields. She took last year off and is now ready for her next challenge in global brand marketing.
Mariana is deeply grateful for the very fortunate circumstances in which she came to this world and the opportunities she has had as a result. She has channeled her gratitude into commitment to less fortunate people and communities. Since her youth she has spent months at a time as a volunteer in Burkina Faso (East Africa), Uganda, Malawi and India. In NYC she has been part of the NY Junior League working at a Homeless Shelter, Women’s prison, Children Psychiatric ward and a crisis intervention program at NY Presbyterian hospital.
She is a co-founder and co-president of APEM and is most proud of the work this organization has done to give access to hard-working and high-deserving Mexican students with very challenging financial circumstances to a college education.
Jorge
Suárez-Vélez
Jorge Suárez-Vélez has been Managing Director at Allen & Company Investment Advisors since May of 2015. He was a founding partner of SP Family Office, LLC from 2009 to 2015, CEO of ING Private Wealth Management, LLC from 2004 to 2009. Previously, he worked for other Swiss, Japanese and Mexican financial institutions.
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Since 1998, he has been a weekly guest at CNN en Español, commenting on economic topics. In July of 2017, he became a weekly Op-Ed columnist for Reforma/El Norte/Mural in Mexico, writing about politics and economics. He previously wrote a similar column for El Financiero newspaper in Mexico (local partner of Bloomberg), from 2013 to 2017.
In 2011, Random House published his book La Próxima Gran Caída de la Economía Mundial (The Coming Downturn of the World Economy), and in 2013 Ahora o Nunca, La Gran Oportunidad de México Para Crecer (Now or Never, The Great Opportunity for Mexico to Grow). He has been a speaker at events of the Council of Foreign Relations, the Council of the Americas, Aspen Institute, Milken Institute Global Conference, Columbia University, Penn University, Pace University, FIU, and dozens of conferences throughout the Americas.
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An economist from the ITAM university in Mexico City, he completed graduate programs at the IMD at Lausanne, Switzerland in 2003 and 2007. He taught at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City between 1984 and 1988. From 2005 to 2016 he served on the board of trustees of the Lycée Français de New York; since 2011 on the board of Qualitas of Life Foundation. On 2016 he joined the board of “¿Cómo Vamos?” in Mexico City, and on the advisory board of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center. He co-presides over APEM, which he co-founded in 2012.
Carla
Ávila
Carla is the founder of Electa Partners, a New York based firm which provides financial advisory services in the U.S., Spain and Latin America. Carla is an entrepreneur, incubator, strategic thinker and deal-oriented finance executive with multi-national experience advising firms on how to define, build and execute strategies that drive growth.
She has lead client-dedicated teams at top-tier domestic and global firms, ranging from an economic think tank to a growth equity asset manager, Baron Capital, and large multinational banks, such as CitiBanamex, JPMorgan, and UBS. She participates in industry events and serves as a panelist and moderator. Carla has extensive experience working with family-owned businesses, corporations and institutional investors. Carla serves as an advisor to the MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy, and a leading fintech alternative credit fund, HCG Funds. She is the co-founder of www.Magicticity.com
Carla has a degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Iberoamericana and an M.B.A. of MIT Sloan School of Management.
Susana Camarena
Susana Camarena currently plays a role as Sr. Director of Impact & Culture at Tacombi, a hospitality company focused on connecting people to Mexico through neighborhood taquerias and retail products. As part of her role, she is also the head of the Tacombi Foundation. Before joining Tacombi, Susana served as Executive Director at Qualitas of Life Foundation from 2014 to 2019, a nonprofit organization that provides basic financial education to Hispanic families in New York in order to foster their financial security and improve their standard of living.
Susana has been involved in diverse community development initiatives in both Mexico and the U.S. She has been a member of the board of directors at the Association of Mexican Professionals and Entrepreneurs (APEM) in New York since 2013 and member of the board of Mercy Center, a Community Center in the South of Bronx focused on empowering women and their families with from where she received the Circle of Mercy award in 2022. She also sits on the board of Brave Up!, a startup that helps schools detect, predict, and prevent cases of microaggressions, bullying, and cyberbullying. In 2023 Susana was named 40 Under 40 Rising Star by the Hunter NYC food Policy Center.
Susana holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Guadalajara, a certificate from the Developing Leaders Program for Nonprofit Professionals at the Columbia Business School and a Migration and Governance diploma from the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE). She was born and raised in Mexico and has lived in New York since 2011.
Catalina
Considine
Catalina works as a language and clinical research coordinator for the Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, addressing the language barrier in healthcare. Catalina supports the Psychiatric and Behavioral study teams that aim to include individuals with Low English Proficiency (LEP) in their research and improve the quality of health care and outcomes for LEP patients.
Catalina is originally from Mazatlán, Mexico; she holds a BA in Psychology from the Universidad Autónoma de Durango and is currently working on her Masters in Developmental Psychology from the City University of New York.
She has lived in New York City with her husband and two daughters since 2013 and has an extensive background in working with underprivileged immigrant population, in the NYC Department of Education, Executive Order on Immigration Review, and the Bronx District Attorneys Office.
Julio
Mariscal
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Julio has been living and working in the United States for the past 15 years. He currently works in the Investment Bank Division of Natixis, a French financial group belonging to BPCE.
Throughout his career, he has worked for financial institutions such as BBVA and Banamex, for international organizations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and for Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a strategic consulting firm.
Julio has valuable experience in the development and evaluation of the impact of public policy addressing poverty and economics. As a strategic consultant, he collaborated with the Government of Chile to develop its energy efficiency strategy, and with the Government of Guatemala to develop a national competitiveness strategy.
Julio holds an MPA with a concentration in Economics and Finance from the University of Columbia in New York, and he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidad de las Américas, in Puebla México. Julio lives in Nueva York with his wife Rosa.
Marcela
Ramírez
Marcela has lived in NYC for 20 years. She is VP of Global ESG Products at Mastercard where she supports the development and go-to-market of commercially viable and economically sustainable solutions for individuals and climate resilient communities.
Prior to Mastercard, Marcela held multiple positions at Citi, Group Manager for Financial Inclusion and Head of Debit and Transfer Products for Citi's Consumer Bank. Her experience includes regulatory compliance, product management for all consumer segments and omni-channel delivery, development of banking and payment products for the unbanked and underserved in over 20 countries, including remittances that immigrants send to their home countries to support their families. Marcela has worked with immigrant communities for over 25 years.
Marcela has a bachelor's degree from ITAM in Mexico City and an MBA from Stern School of Business, New York University.
Myriam
Rebling
Miriam Rebling worked at the Consulate General of Mexico in New York from 2011 to 2019 in the Political and Economic Affairs department, where she had the opportunity to develop the first Ventanilla de Educación Financiera in 2013, which would later be reproduced by other consulates throughout the country. She developed the relationship between the Consulate in New York and the community of Mexican professionals in the tri-state area, being one of the founding members of the Asociación de Profesionistas y Empresarios en Nueva York Foundation in 2013, which has originated in excess of one million dollars of scholarships for college education for Hispanic immigrants. From 2009 to 2011, Myriam was a partner at Eco-Friendly Expo, LLC. From 2001 to 2008, she represented Promecap, one of the largest Mexican private equity fund managers in the United States, and from 1990 to 1998, she worked for Grupo Financiero Inbursa and for Grupo Carso, two of the leading financial and industrial conglomerates in Mexico, in different capacities. She earned an MBA from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México in Mexico City and a BA from Florida Atlantic University.
Gabriel
Tenorio
Gabriel Tenorio is part of the economic research and fixed income strategy team for Latin America at BofA Merrill Lynch, based in New York. Its analysis focuses on exchange rates and interest rates in the region, formulating investment recommendations for institutional and corporate clients. Previously, he worked as a project leader at the Boston Consulting Group (New York), and as a financial analyst at Evercore Partners (Mexico). Gabriel has a degree in economics from ITAM, and a doctorate in economics from Princeton University, where he specialized in international macroeconomics, finance and econometrics.
Carlos
Valverde Rojo
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Carlos Valverde has been living in New York City since 2007 and is a real estate developer and architect. He currently works at Silverstein Properties, a renowned real estate development organization, as Construction and Development Manager for the new World Trade Center.
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Carlos received his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts.
Our honorary members include:
Helena
Escalante
Helena was born in Mexico City and arrived in NY in 2012. Her knowledge and expertise center around the areas of marketing and communications. She has worked in the private as well as in the public sectors both in Mexico and in the United States. Currently, she is the President of Helena Escalante Marketing & Communications, a consulting firm.
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She started the Spanish entrepreneurial program at the New York Public Library and has given many international conferences and workshops about marketing, social media, digital media, communications, and multicultural aspects.
She is an avid reader of business topics as well as personal development.
She is married and has 2 furry dogs who have trained her very well to give them treats and take them to the park.
Deborah Berebichez
Deborah Berebichez is a physicist, STEM advocate, and financial engineer. She graduated with a physics Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she developed a highly effective technique to focus wireless signals for communications.
Dr. Berebichez is the co-host of Discovery Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science TV show (2012 – 2014) where she uses her physics background to explain the science behind extraordinary engineering feats.
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Dr. Berebichez is the Global Ambassador for Technovation Challenge to teach hundreds of high school girls from under-served communities how to code science-based mobile apps and start high-tech companies based on them. She is a frequent public speaker and has been recognized by Oprah, CNN, WSJ, TED, DLD, WIRED, and others.