Mauricio González Sfeir (born 1956) is a petroleum company executive and president of the Bolivian professional football team La Paz F.C. Mr. Gonzalez served as president of

YPFB Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) is a Bolivian state-owned enterprise dedicated to the exploration, exploitation, refining, industrialization, distribution and commercialization of oil, natural gas and derived products. It ...

(Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos) and Secretary of Energy of

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

in the mid-1990s, contributing to the success of the Bolivia-Brazil natural gas pipeline. He is a co-author of the Baker Institute's "Americas Project.

Mauricio Gonzalez studied economics at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and finance & management at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. Furthermore, he pursued post-graduate studies at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, while on a

Marshall Scholarship The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is considered among the most prestigious scholarsh ...

. During college, he was a summer intern at the Wall Street investment bank

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

. After completing his university education and prior to returning to Bolivia, Mr. Gonzalez worked as an international

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

in the London office of

The Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the " Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three largest management consulting firms by rev ...

. Mr. Gonzalez has had a lifelong involvement with sport. He represented Bolivia in Junior Davis Cup tennis competition at the South American level (once defeating

Ricardo Ycaza Ricardo Ycaza (born 16 February 1958) is an Ecuadorian tennis player who was a world top 10 junior, a Davis Cup stalwart, and a world top 100 touring professional. Tennis career His most noteworthy achievement was winning the 1976 US Open Jun ...

in doubles), taught tennis at the Welby Van Horn Tennis Camp, and played on the tennis teams of DePaul University (under legendary coach

George Lott George Martin Lott (October 16, 1906 – December 3, 1991) was an American tennis player and tennis coach who was born in Springfield, Illinois. Lott is mostly remembered as being one of the great doubles players of all time. He won the U.S. titl ...

) and Oxford University. He is a past president of

The Strongest Club The Strongest is a Bolivian professional football club based in La Paz, that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1908, their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, Estadio Rafael Me ...

football club, a past president of the La Paz Football Association and a past vice-president of the Bolivian Football Federation (

Federación Boliviana de Fútbol The Bolivian Football Federation (, ; FBF) is the governing body of football in Bolivia. It was founded in 1925, making it the eighth oldest South American federation. It affiliated to CONMEBOL and FIFA in 1926 and is in charge of Bolivia nationa ...

). Mr. Gonzalez is a charismatic promoter of Bolivian football (soccer), including junior and women's divisions. He has also been a forceful spokesman and advocate for the proposition that the Bolivia national team and Bolivian club teams should be allowed to play-official international matches—including World Cup qualifying games—in the high altitude cities of La Paz, Oruro, and Potosi. He is a leading member of an ''ad hoc'' committee of prominent Bolivians formed to design a strategy to campaign against the

FIFA altitude ban The high-altitude football controversy was a dispute that arose in May 2007 when the FIFA imposed a temporary ban on international football matches held at altitudes exceeding above sea level. The ban was justified by concerns over player heal ...

. Media Coverage * Numerous articles regarding Mr. Gonzalez's advocacy in defense of Bolivian high-altitude football/socce

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sfeir, Mauricio Gonzalez Alumni of the University of Oxford Boston Consulting Group people DePaul University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Management consultants Yale University alumni Living people 1956 births Lebanese diaspora