Luis Alberto Moreno Mejía (born 3 May 1953) is a Colombian businessman and former diplomat who served as president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) from 2005 to 2020. He was Colombia's Ambassador to the United States under president

Andrés Pastrana Arango Andrés Pastrana Arango (born 17 August 1954) is a Colombian politician who was the 30th President of Colombia from 1998 to 2002, following in the footsteps of his father, Misael Pastrana Borrero, who was president from 1970 to 1974. Early ...

and the former President of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial.

Early life and education

Moreno was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

to a Colombian father who at the time was attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. He was raised in Bogota, where he studied at Colegio San Carlos and returned to the United States to attend college. He obtained bachelor's degrees in Business Administration and Economics from

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-ca ...

in 1975 and an MBA from the

Thunderbird School of Global Management Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University (or simply Thunderbird) is a global management school in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1946 as an independent, private institution, it was acquired by Arizona State University ( ...

(now part of Arizona State University) in 1977.

Career

Early career

Moreno was Executive Producer of "TV Hoy", an award-winning news program, from January 1982 to September 1990. For his distinguished work in the field of journalism, he was awarded a

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Government

During the administration of Colombian President

César Gaviria César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo ( ; born 31 March 1947) is a Colombian economist and politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 to 2004 and National Di ...

, Moreno worked in several cabinet positions. Moreno was the President of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial (IFI) which was a holding company for many of the largest state-owned enterprises. While at IFI, he pushed for a large privatization plan in the country. He was later appointed Minister of Economic Development. In 1998, Moreno was named Colombia's Ambassador to the United States by newly elected president

. He was the ambassador for seven years and oversaw a dramatic improvement in Colombian-U.S. relations. He helped build bipartisan support in the United States Congress for passage of more than US$4 billion in U.S. assistance programs for Colombia. He also worked on a free trade accord between Colombia and the United States.

Inter-American Development Bank

In 2005, Moreno was nominated for president of the IDB by the administration of President

Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...

. He took office in October that same year. He was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2015. Milestones during Moreno's tenure include: the approval in 2007 of $4.4 billion in debt relief for Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua, the most heavily indebted member countries; the approval in 2010 of the Ninth General Capital Increase, the largest expansion of resources in the Bank’s history; the merging and expansion in 2016 of the Group’s private-sector operations under IDB Invest; the replenishment in 2017 of IDB Lab with historic contributions from Latin American and Caribbean countries; the launch in 2019 of a special grant facility to help countries integrate migrants into local communities and contribute to their development; and the institution-wide response in 2020 to the coronavirus pandemic.

Later career

In early 2021, Moreno was appointed by the

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...

to the High Level Independent Panel (HLIP) on financing the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response, co-chaired by

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organiza ...

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Tamil: தர்மன் சண்முகரத்தினம்; born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been serving as Senior Minister of Singapore since 2019 and has also been C ...

and

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...

Other activities

* End Malaria Council, Member (since 2017) *

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC), Member (since 2015) *

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

(WEF), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2011)

Recognition

In 2017, Moreno received the Distinguished Leadership Award for Social Equity from the Inter-American Dialogue.

Personal life

Moreno is married to María Gabriela Sigala, a Venezuelan philanthropist. He has two children, Nicolas and Natalia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno, Luis Alberto 1953 births Living people Politicians from Philadelphia Florida Atlantic University alumni Nieman Fellows Colombian businesspeople Colombian journalists Male journalists Colombian Ministers of Economic Development Ambassadors of Colombia to the United States Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Presidents of the Inter-American Development Bank Thunderbird School of Global Management alumni Former United States citizens International Olympic Committee members