As Latin America and the Caribbean continue to strengthen their integration into global markets and amid slowing global growth, tighter financial conditions, and a reconfiguration of supply chains, identifying new engines of investment has become a central priority for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Georgetown Americas Institute (GAI), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Latin America Business Association (LABA) are pleased to convene a dialogue on investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
Despite persistent macroeconomic volatility, the region presents significant opportunities across strategic sectors—including infrastructure, energy transition and critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, digital services, and logistics. Tapping this potential requires continued dialogue on regulatory frameworks, coordination mechanisms, and investment conditions that can support scalable projects. Yet investment gaps remain substantial, reflecting regulatory uncertainty, coordination failures, and constraints in project preparation and financing.
This event brings together policymakers, representatives from international organizations, business leaders, and scholars to assess where capital is flowing in the region and what policy frameworks are needed to unlock its full potential. The discussion will be informed by a private sector recommendations report developed under the Americas Business Dialogue (ABD), a private-sector-led platform facilitated by the IDB that brings together senior business leaders and policymakers to discuss practical policy and regulatory issues affecting competitiveness, investment, and growth across the Americas. The event will feature a high-level panel discussion, moderated by former Ambassador of Uruguay Andrés Durán, about practical pathways to scale investment, strengthen public-private collaboration, and improve the regulatory and institutional conditions necessary for sustained growth.
Featuring
Barbara Aveggio is originally from Lima, Peru, and is currently pursuing her MBA at the McDonough School of Business (MSB). She will be joining PwC in Washington, D.C. this summer as an intern in the M&A practice. At MSB, she is actively involved in the Consulting Club as part of the Career Management Team and serves as Vice President of Social of the Latin American Business Association. Before Georgetown, Barbara worked at Belcorp, a leading beauty company in Latin America, where she held roles across both commercial and corporate strategy functions. She began in commercial roles focused on product strategy, brand growth, and sales execution, working closely with field teams and driving initiatives that increased brand penetration and salespeople performance. She later transitioned into Corporate Strategy, where she partnered with C-level executives to shape and execute the company’s highest-priority initiatives, leading growth, market entry strategy, and retail channel expansion projects, conducting competitive benchmarking and M&A due diligence, and developing financial models and board-level presentations to support executive decision-making. Earlier in her career, Barbara worked at Rappi, where she focused on revenue growth and commercial strategy in high-growth business units, collaborating with partners to accelerate sales and improve category performance. She holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, which has shaped her analytical and problem-solving approach across roles. Her experience bridges strategy, commercial execution, and data-driven decision-making across the consumer and technology sectors.
Gaelle Burkhart is director of global stakeholder relations at The AES Corporation, where she has worked since 2006. She has extensive experience in stakeholder relations, focusing on international government and public affairs, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and corporate communications.Prior to joining AES, she worked as a Marketing Project Officer at EGTA in Brussels from 2002 to 2005, supporting marketing initiatives for a trade association representing television and radio advertising sales houses.
Andrés A. Durán is a visiting fellow at the Georgetown Americas Institute. He served as ambassador of Uruguay to the United States from 2020 to 2025, during the government of President Luis Lacalle Pou. He was dean of the Latin America diplomatic corps in Washington, DC, both under the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations. During his tenure, Uruguay and the United States deepened their economic partnership through trade and investments and developed a close political relationship that was reflected in new security and education agreements, initiatives to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, bipartisan bills, and fulfillment of all requirements to obtain Visa Waiver Program status (currently in implementation phase), among others. Before becoming an ambassador, he worked in private equity and real estate deals in Latin America, as well as an executive advisor of investment manager Ashmore Group; previously he worked over 20 years as a corporate lawyer in the region, particularly in mergers and acquisitions transactions and foreign direct investment projects, as a partner of law firms based in Uruguay. Ambassador Durán has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an LL.M. in international legal studies from Georgetown Law (as a Fulbright Scholar), and a Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of Uruguay.
Guillermo Foscarini is currently the managing director and chief of the Corporates Division for IDB Invest where he leads the origination and structuring of investments in the agribusiness, manufacturing, tourism and digital economy sectors totaling +$1.5B per year. He joined the IDB Group in 2019 after spending almost 17 years at the International Finance Corporation, private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, where he held several senior investment and development banking positions as Principal Investment Officer in the Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services & Credit Risk Departments. Guillermo has worked on +150 corporate and project finance transactions, as well as equity and quasi-equity investments in Africa, Asia and Latin America & Caribbean totaling +$4.5B. Guillermo holds a MSc in Risk Management from New York University (NY, USA), a MBA from Universidad del CEMA (Argentina), and a CPA degree from the Universidad Católica de Cordoba (Argentina).
Welby Leaman is senior director for Global Government Affairs at Walmart, where he is lead on the Americas from the company’s headquarters in Arkansas. Walmart de México y Centroamérica has over 230,000 employees and 3000 stores, covering every state in Mexico and all five Central American CAFTA countries, which gives it a constructive role in both the U.S.-Mexico relationship and Mexico’s socioeconomic development prospects. Previously, as Trade Counsel to the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee, Leaman managed passage of the U.S.-Colombia trade agreement, consultation with USTR on 14 chapters of TPP and TTIP, and ongoing congressional oversight of NAFTA. He served as Director for International Investment at the U.S. National Security Council and as Senior Advisor at the U.S. Treasury, where he was lead U.S. negotiator of the financial services chapter of the Peru and Colombia trade agreements, led the team that wrote the CFIUS regulations, and helped staff the NAFTA Financial Services Committee. He practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton and WilmerHale and was placed for several years into the Peruvian government by the UN Development Program. Leaman chairs the board of the Nazareth Project, serves on advisory councils for the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, the Rosenthal Fellowship, Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program, and INCAE business school. He was a 2014 Eisenhower Fellow in Brazil and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a B.S. from Messiah College and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Fabrizio Opertti is the manager of the productivity, trade, and innovation sector (PTI) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). With over 15 years of leadership experience in trade, investment, and regional integration, and nearly three decades of advancing international trade across the Americas, he leads a team of more than 100 professionals dedicated to designing and implementing strategic programs. These programs promote trade facilitation, investment attraction, and export promotion, while also strengthening productivity, innovation, and competitiveness across key sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing to regional competitiveness and economic growth. He led the creation and implementation of ConnectAmericas.com, the first business social network in Latin America and the Caribbean, designed to support SMEs by providing access to global business networks. Additionally, he coordinates the Americas Business Dialogue, a private sector-led initiative facilitated by the IDB that brings together more than 400 multinational corporations and chambers of commerce and industry to foster public-private synergies, drive policy recommendations, and promote sustainable and inclusive growth. He also led the implementation of the BID for the Americas program, designed to foster business opportunities and strengthen economic ties between 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and key partners in Europe, North America, and Asia. Mr. Opertti has also conceived and led several flagship trade and investment forums, including the CEO Summit of the Americas, Outsource2LAC, LAC Flavors, and the Asia-LAC Forum series. These forums serve as key platforms for fostering public-private dialogue, regional collaboration, and business matchmaking across various sectors of the economy. Mr. Opertti holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy from American University’s School of International Service, a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Business.
Felipe Rincon is vice president for government affairs & policy at Mastercard. Rincon’s contributions to the PCDE focus on payments’ regulatory policy, market modernization, new business models, competition, and challenges at the intersection of electronic payments and informality. Before his current position, he led for more than seven years Mastercard’s government affairs & policy function in Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining Mastercard, he has been engaged in a broad range of financial sector matters, including public credit, banking, securities and payments, having held leadership positions in Grupo Bancolombia, the self-regulator of the Colombian Stock Market (AMV), the Colombian Stock Exchange, and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. He is a lawyer from the Universidad de Los Andes, has a Specialization degree in Financial Legislation from same University, and an LL.M. from the University of Toronto. He has been a professor of economic analysis of law, securities market and payments regulation at the Universities of Los Andes and Javeriana, both in Colombia, and author of academic, policy and analysis documents, including the Stock Market Regime.
Roberto Rumbaut is originally from Monterrey, Mexico, currently pursuing his MBA at the McDonough School of Business (MSB). He will be joining JPMorgan’s Private Bank in the Asset & Wealth Management team in Miami this summer. At MSB, he is co-President of the Latin America Business Association and tech portfolio manager of the Graduate Investment Fund. Before Georgetown, he was head of capital formation & investor relations at IGNIA Partners, where he led fundraising for Early-Stage Venture Capital & Private Equity strategies for over four years. He managed relations with limited partners, industry players, entrepreneurs, and strategic partners. Previously, he led the corporate venture capital strategy at Orange Investments, developing growth programs for proptech startups across LatAm. He co-founded the MX Proptech Association to support and promote the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Earlier in his career he worked in operations and engineering roles across multiple industries. Roberto holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University. His experience bridges finance, investor relations, investing, capital markets, and innovation.