ESG: Shaping the Future of Colombia’s Business Landscape

Vice-Minister of Environmental Land Management is a lawyer with studies in sociology, political science, and the EU, with teaching experience at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Externado de Colombia, and Jorge Tadeo Lozano universities, among others. He directed the Planning Office of the Ministry of the Environment, the Association of Regional Autonomous Corporations and Sustainable Development(Asocars), and has served as a consultant to various entities and organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and as corporate manager of planning and control and customer service at the Bogotá Water and Sewerage Company (EAAB). He is an expert in water and land management policies and instruments in the context of climate change.

Cristian Andrés Díaz Durán is the Vice Minister of Energy (acting) for the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Colombia. He is an electrical engineer from the Industrial University of Santander, with a master's degree in power systems and a PhD in electrical energy systems from the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid, Spain.Throughout his professional career of over 10 years, he has worked as an energy specialist in operation planning for XM, a subsidiary of ISA, coordinating studies on interconnection with other countries, analysis for the planning of electrical system operations, as well as studies for the massive integration of renewable sources into the electrical system through the analysis of the operational flexibility of systems. Since 2019, he has been part of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, contributing his knowledge to the development of regulatory policies as a member of the Regulatory Affairs Office, later advising the ministry's office, and since May 2022 as Director of Energy and now Acting Vice Minister of Energy.

Director of the CREE Regional Center for Energy Studies, Tomás González is an economist from the Universidad de los Andes and has a PhD in economics from the University of London. His professional interests focus on the functioning of energy markets and on energy policy and regulation. He was Minister of Mines and Energy, economic advisor to the Presidency, manager of external affairs for BP in Colombia and Venezuela and, more recently, deputy executive director at the International Monetary Fund. He has been a member of various boards of directors such as Ecopetrol, ISA and Isagén, the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission, and the National Council for Economic and Social Policy. Additionally, he has worked in public opinion evaluating important government initiatives and supporting the development of strategies for campaigns He has worked as a professor of economics in Colombia and abroad and currently teaches energy economics at the Universidad de Los Andes.

Mónica Contreras Esper is an economist from Universidad Externado, with an executive MBA from Universidad de los Andes. She also took the CEO Management Program at Kellogg University and participated in the transformational leadership program at Harvard Business School. She began her professional career in the financial sector. She later worked in mass consumption companies such as Pepsico, where she became the first woman to become vice president of sales in Latam. In 2010, she was appointed general manager of Colombia and in 2013 she became CEO of Pepsico for the Andean territory, a position she held until 2020. As of October of the same year, she was appointed President of Transportadora de Gas Intrernacional (TGI).

In October 2022, Juan Camilo Vallejo Lorza joined Fondo de Energías No Convencionales y Gestión Eficiente de la Energía (FENOGE) as executive director. He was previously the environmental technical director of the Corporación Autónoma Regional del Valle del Cauca (CVC), where he led the implementation of applied research and technology transfer in conservation actions, protection, restoration, use and exploitation of natural resources, and execution of sanitation projects. He has held management positions in private-sector companies and public-sector organizations such as environmental consultant at Fundación PROAGUA, general manager of Energías Renovables y Eficientes del Valle del Cauca, deputy director of Integrated Management Ecosystems, and UMATA of the Departamento Administrativo de Gestión de Medio Ambiente (DAGMA).

María Isabella Muñoz Méndez is an industrial engineer from the Javeriana University and a specialist in economics from Los Andes University. She has more than 18 years of experience in private and venture capital funds, entrepreneurship, investment, and business structuring. She is currently the executive director of Invest in Bogota, the investment promotion agency for the city, a public-private partnership between the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and the city's mayor's office. Prior to joining this entity, she was one of the first promoters of the private equity industry in Colombia since 2008, the year in which she was a partner at MAS Equity Partners, a pioneer private equity fund manager in the Andean Region and, previously, she served as executive director of ColCapital, the Colombian Association of Private Equity Funds in Colombia from its inception.

Founder (2009) and President and CEO of The Muzo Companies in Colombia, Charles Clifford Burgess is a former US diplomat born in Virginia. He graduated from the University of Florida in history and political sciences. He also holds a master of arts in public administration. After three years of military service as an officer with the US Marine Corps, Burgess started working for the US Department of State as a diplomat. He worked with the US Foreign Service for over 30 years, traveling to several countries of Latin America such as Paraguay, Ecuador, Cuba, and Colombia, where he worked in two terms, during the 1980’s and 2000’s, becoming very familiar with Colombian culture and history. In 2009 he retired from the Diplomatic Service and founded Minería Texas Colombia (MTC), a subsidiary of Texma, a private investment group from the state of Texas mainly in the oil and gas industry. By his proposal and initiative, Texma evaluated the opportunity of investing in the Colombian emerald mining sector and, after a thorough due diligence, MTC started operations in Western Boyacá.

Since 2009, Lida Pabón has been the head of Pinturas Tito Pabón, where, as a leader, she has focused her experience on leading the company. Along with her management, she has promoted the creation and development of products with zero and low volatile organic compounds that express the company’s commitment to the environment. Pabón has also promoted educational campaigns on recycling within the company as well as in the communities where it works. She studied literature, pedagogy, and conflict resolution and was a teacher for 28 years.