A Mexican national, Mauricio Mireles has served at the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean since 2019. He previously worked with FAO as an international consultant in Italy, Ghana, Mozambique and Brazil. A sociologist and anthropologist by profession, he holds a master's in environmental security from the UN University for Peace, and a master's in peace, development, security and international conflict transformation from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Mireles has extensive experience in issues related to the social inclusion of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities, having coordinated diverse projects and initiatives related to South-South cooperation, social protection, school meals, family farming and the Amazonian bioeconomy.
Cynthia is a Costa Rican economist with over 25 years’ experience in environmental economics, public policy and sustainability. She is a specialist in cost-benefit analysis, climate change, the circular economy, bioeconomy and environmental assessment. She is vice-chair on OECD committees, coordinator of Costa Rica's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Circular Economy, and country chair of the G100. Previously, Cynthia has served as environmental economics coordinator at the Ministry of Environment and Energy and held technical and leadership roles in key institutions such as the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) and Tropical Science Center (CCT). Recognised for her academic publications, she promotes creativity, consensus-building and a just transition.
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Angelica Pena
Free Trade Zones Chamber Director
Colombian National Business Association (ANDI)
Angelica is a Colombian lawyer specialised in corporate law, with a degree from Universidad de Los Andes and LLM from Cornell University. She has more than 15 years of professional experience in international trade, customs and international investments, as well as corporate government, public policy and government relations. Angelica is also co-author of the Colombian chapter of the Foreign Tax & Trade Briefs by LexisNexis and other publications on trade and customs in the country. She has been a professor of international trade and customs at Colombian universities.
Patricia Malnati is a public accountant and leads a family-owned SME dedicated to the industrialisation of rubber. She has served as director of the sustainability committee of the Latin American Society of Rubber Technology (SLTC) and vice-president of the environment and sustainability department of the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UIPBA). She is founder of the Women and Rubber Network, member of Red de Mujeres de la Industria Argentina (MIA), advisory member of G100 Resources and Talent Development, and vice-president of Red Pacto Global Argentina. She was elected as Best Company Director at the Recircle Awards 2022, a global event that recognises excellence and contribution to the tyre recycling sector, and Best Businesswoman 2024 at the WEF Women Economic Forum Argentina.
Manuel Frávega works for one of the largest law firms in Argentina, where he heads the environmental law and climate change department and co-leads the ESG department. Prior to joining the firm in 2022, he served as environment regional senior manager for Tenaris (2020-2022) and as undersecretary of environment of the Provincial Agency for Sustainable Development (Government of the Province of Buenos Aires) (2017-2019). Previously, Manuel worked at Techint Group as a senior counsel in charge of the environmental law department (2011-2017) and participated as vice president of the Environment Commission of the Argentine Industrial Union. Currently, he is the president of the department of environment and sustainability of the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UIPBA).
Slendy Díaz is a circular economy expert with extensive experience in the public and private sectors, the energy sector and project management. She is a speaker, consultant and mentor on circular business models.
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Carlos Mauricio Cordero Vega
Director
Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica
Carlos is a geographer with an emphasis in territorial planning. He has a master’s in sustainable development and environmental management. His experience includes sustainability issues in the private sector and policy in the public sector. Currently, he leads the Sectoral Planning Secretariat at the ministry and is sectoral secretary of the Environment and Energy Sectoral Council.
Marcela is an investment officer for climate change on the climate and enviroment team at IDB Invest, which she joined in 2021. She is responsible for supporting the development of climate change operations and since 2025 is leading the circular economy agenda for IDB Invest. Marcela holds a master’s in urban and regional planning from the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and an industrial engineering degree from Universidad Militar Nueva Granada (Colombia).
Veronica has over 8 years’ experience leading innovation-driven initiatives. Currently, she leads a biomaterials startup focused on developing sustainable alternatives like mango leather and hemp textiles. She also mentors early-stage projects and leads private ventures such as a Cultural Gastronomic Center in Luque. In addition, she coordinates Paraguay’s hemp industrialisation project in collaboration with the National University of Asuncion and Agronorte Coop.
Luis Tejado was born in 1969 in Mexico, is an industrial engineer from Universidad Panamericana and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. His career spans finance and strategy at P&G, BCG and Time Warner before shifting to sustainable agriculture. He has led large-scale forestry (Proteak), palm oil (Prolade), organic bananas and coconut operations (Tabascoco). Passionate about circular economy solutions, he specialises in biochar, regenerative agriculture, alternative energies and irrigation efficiency. A strong advocate for waste circularity, he integrates sustainability into agribusiness models, enhancing productivity while reducing environmental impact.
