Monday, September 28, 2026
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT
Sovereign credit ratings play a central role in global financial markets, shaping how investors assess risk, allocate capital, and evaluate the economic outlook of countries. The Georgetown Americas Institute is pleased to welcome Mauro Leos, former managing director of the Americas in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group, for a discussion to examine the role and significance of sovereign credit ratings, with a particular focus on emerging markets. Leos will draw on more than two decades of experience assessing the economic and financial implications of geopolitical developments to explore how sovereign risk is evaluated and communicated to global markets. The conversation will consider the factors that influence sovereign credit assessments, the challenges facing emerging-market economies, and the broader implications of credit ratings for access to international capital.
Featuring
Mauro Leos is the former managing director of the Americas in Moody’s Investors Service’s Sovereign Risk Group, where he led the firm’s sovereign ratings for Latin America, the United States, and Canada from 2012 to 2025. He also served as a member of Moody’s Global Credit Council, contributing to regional credit views across multiple asset classes, and managed a team of analysts covering 35 sovereign governments. Previously, Leos was a senior analyst at Moody’s, where he monitored sovereign ratings across Latin America and headed the region’s Regional Credit Council. Earlier in his career, he served as managing director for Latin America at Wharton Econometrics, developing macroeconomic projections and statistical models for the region’s largest economies. Leos has more than two decades of experience analyzing the economic and financial implications of geopolitical developments, with expertise in international financial markets and emerging economies.
Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).