Georgina Kessel Martínez is a Mexican

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

for the Spanish energy firm Iberdrola, post she earned thanks to concessions she signed off on while secretary of energy. She is a former head of the '' Casa de Moneda de México'' (the Mexican mint) and the Secretary of Energy in the cabinet of President Felipe Calderón. She was head of the Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos (

Banobras Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos, SNC (National Works and Public Services Bank) or Banobras is a state owned development bank in Mexico. Its core business is sub national (Municipal and State governments) and project finance. It w ...

Personal life and education

Kessel attended the ''

Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México The Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology), commonly known as ITAM, is a private university. It is one of Mexico's most important institutions of higher learning; highly prestigious in the social sc ...

'' (ITAM) from 1975 to 1979 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics. A few years later she received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in the same discipline from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Kessel worked for over nine years as a full-time professor at the ITAM, where she headed the Department of Economics in 1994. Amongst her former students is Felipe Calderón, who earned a master's degree in economics under Kessel at ITAM. Calderón subsequently appointed her Minister of Energy after he was elected President of Mexico in 2006.

Public and political career

In the public sector Kessel has worked at the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Mexican mint ''( Casa de Moneda de México)'',

Pemex Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...

and the Secretariat of Finance. In 2005 she received the ''Premio al mérito profesional in the public sector'', a recognition of the ITAM alumni. She was appointed member of the Board of Directors of Iberdrola on 23 April 2013.

Published works

* ''El sur también existe'' (with Santiago Levy and Enrique Dávila) * ''Los peligros del Plan Puebla-Panamá'' * ''Lo negociado del Tratado de Libre Comercio'' (compiler) *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessel, Georgina Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Mexican Secretaries of Energy Mexican economists Mexican women economists Academic staff of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Mexican people of German descent Women Secretaries of State of Mexico Directors of Iberdrola 21st-century Mexican politicians 21st-century Mexican women politicians