Speaker biographies

Francisco Acuña is managing director at ManattJones Global Strategies, LLC, where he works on matters both in Mexico and in the United States with an emphasis in international trade, business, and government relations. Mr. Acuña focuses on facilitating successful strategic partnerships and foreign investment between U.S. companies and foreign states. During 2004, he worked with ManattJones while attending the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was also involved in a number of projects, including an analysis of automotive tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), economic promotion for Mexican government entities, and Mexican market entry possibilities for a foreign aircraft manufacturer. From 2002–2003, Mr. Acuña served as advisor for the North American Dialogue and collaborated on an initiative to shift NAFTA to a "Track II" that would provide more integration among NAFTA countries. In this capacity, Mr. Acuña also analyzed issues related to North America’s national security, energy, trade, and immigration.

Roger F. Noriega is a visiting fellow at AEI, coordinating the institute’s program on Western Hemisphere issues. Twice appointed by President George W. Bush (and confirmed by the U.S. Senate) and with a ten-year career on Capitol Hill, Mr. Noriega’s breadth of experience offers strategic vision and practical insight on the Americas. As assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Mr. Noriega managed a 3,000-person team of professionals in Washington, D.C., and fifty diplomatic posts to design and implement political and economic strategies in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Mr. Noriega coordinated complex and sensitive multilateral diplomacy in a thirty-four-member international organization to bolster OAS efforts to promote trade, fight illicit drugs, and defend democracy. Mr. Noriega has held various other positions, including senior policy advisor with the U.S. mission to the OAS; many program management and public affairs positions with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State; press secretary and foreign policy advisor for U.S. representative Robert Whittaker (R-Kan.); and research assistant for the secretary of state of Kansas.

Armand B. Peschard-Sverdrup is the director of the Mexico Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is responsible for analysis of Mexico’s domestic politics, trade and investment, national and border security, and U.S.-Mexico bilateral relations. Mr. Peschard-Sverdrup is a guest lecturer at both the Mexican Advanced Area Studies Seminar at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State and at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He has also written extensively on Mexico, including Mexican Governance: From Single-Party Rule to Divided Government and U.S.-Mexico Border Security and the Evolving Security Relationship. Prior to joining CSIS, Mr. Peschard-Sverdrup was senior consultant with Econolynx International in Ottawa, Canada.

Luis Rubio is director general of CIDAC (Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo, A.C. or the Center of Research for Development), an independent research institution devoted to the study of economic and political policy issues. He is a prolific writer on political, economic, and international subjects. In the 1970s he was planning director of Citibank in Mexico and served as an adviser to Mexico’s secretary of the treasury. He has served on the boards of the Mexico Equity and Income Fund and of the Central European Value Fund, Inc., and is a former member of the board of directors of Banamex and Banco Obrero. Dr. Rubio writes a weekly column for Reforma and is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. His latest books in English include Mexico under Fox and NAFTA and the Environment: Seven Years Later.

Arturo Valenzuela is a professor of government and director of the Center for Latin American Studies in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Prior to joining the Georgetown faculty he was professor of political science and director of the Council of Latin American Studies at Duke University. During President Clinton’s second term in office, Dr. Valenzuela served as special assistant to the president and senior director for inter-American affairs at the National Security Council. He also served as deputy assistant secretary for inter-American affairs in the United States Department of State during the first Clinton Administration. A specialist of the origins and consolidation of democracy, Latin American politics, electoral systems, civil-military relations, political parties, regime transitions, and U.S.-Latin American relations, Dr. Valenzuela is an expert on the politics of the Southern Cone and Mexican politics. He is the author or co-author of nine books, including Political Brokers in Chile and The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Chile.

Mario Villarreal, a former Fulbright fellow, is a research fellow at AEI and researches health economics, entitlement programs, economic development, and political economy issues. Before joining AEI, Dr. Villarreal was a research associate at the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute studying political projects and binational issues between Mexico and the United States. He also taught at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, one of the most prestigious Mexican private universities. His professional experience includes numerous research and consulting projects for both the private and public sectors, particularly on issues of regulation, industrial organization, and the provision of public goods.

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