Our team⁰¹

Chief Executive Officer

José María Figueres
President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998, Minister of Foreign Trade in 1987-1988 and Minister of Agriculture from 1988 to 1990, President Figueres joined the World Economic Forum and became its first CEO in 2003. He helped create and lead the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (ICT) and is the founder of the Fundación Costa Rica para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Entebbe) in Costa Rica. He is currently CEO of Concordia21 in Madrid and international advisor to the Board of FRIDE. He holds an Industrial Engineering Degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Chief Operating Officer

Agustín Pérez Vilaplana
held executive positions for 24 years in Citibank Uruguay, US, Belgium, Chile and Brazil, having been Vice-president in charge of Operations and Technology for Spain and Portugal from 1991 to 2002. In 2003, Pérez Vilaplana founded his own consulting company and among other activities, provided services to the third sector and established commercial relations between Spain and Morocco. He has also been Director of the Human Resources Masters Program for Chile at the Instituto de Directivos de Empresa Ide-Cesem of Madrid. He has studied Aeronautical Engineering in the University Complutense of Madrid.

Senior Diplomatic Adviser

J Christer Elfverson
was born and brought up in the then International Zone of Tangiers (Morocco). He served in the United Nations system in various key positions including UNCTAD and WHO in Geneva, and UNDP in New York and Latin America. He was Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Western Sahara (MINURSO) and Deputy to the Executive Director of the UN Office of the Iraq Programme, which included extensive stays in Iraq. Private sector experience includes The Axel Johnson Group in Sweden, Mexico and Australia, and the Nordic American Banking Corporation in New York and Washington, DC, as Sovereign Risk Adviser. Mr. Elfverson served in his country’s foreign service, as Counselor and Trade Commissioner, in Madrid and Paris.

Human Resources Manager

Ana Roncal
has seven years of experience in Human Resources, including four years with private consultancy companies, and three years with the Felipe IV Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Community Law, and speaks Spanish, French and English.

Financial Manager

Belén Buenadicha
graduated in business studies and holds a master degree in non-for-profit sector administration. She has more than 8 years of experience in finance departments having worked as financial controller and support staff for various organizations. Belen worked for FRIDE foundation for several years, contributed to the creation of the Grupo Felipe IV financial department and manages presently the financial support area for five different organizations.

Technology Manager

Alfonso Medina
holds a degree in Systems Administration and has over 10 years of experience in diverse technology support positions. He has actively contributed to the development of a network platform and standards for several organizations and leads presently the technology area and data security infrastructure providing support to five organizations in telecommunications and network implementation.

TICS Project Manager

Arturo Oñate
has spent more than 10 years of his professional career in the private, public and third sector, mostly in positions related to administration, training, finance, fundraising and project management. He also served as Senior Manager for an association of entrepreneurs dealing with a diverse set of organizations and with projects at a European level. He holds a Political Sciences degree from the Law University and a Public Administration degree from the Political Sciences and Business Administration University.

TICS Sales Manager

Taisha Azqueta
has more than 10 years of international experience in the private sector and in non-for-profit organizations. During her career Taisha held several positions such as cooperation for development project manager, SMEs consultant, Spanish teacher at the university and Operations Director. She holds a degree in Translation and Interpretation and masters in International Relations and Administration. Taisha speaks fluently Spanish, English, French and Turkish.

Office Manager

Brenda Muñoz
has 7 years of experience working in several administrative positions for the public sector in Mexico. She has a degree in International Relations and Political Sciences from the Merida Yucatán University.

Financial Support

Ana Roldán
has developed her career in accounting and administration support functions for the last 10 years. She holds a degree in Administration and Finance.

Technology Support

Miguel Ángel Rubio
has a degree in History and a Master in Software Engineering. He has more than 20 years of experience in the network management/support and system’s administration fields working for the public and private sectors.