FIU’s Adam Smith Center names a former Latin American president and other distinguished global leaders to serve as Senior Leadership Fellows for spring

FIU’s Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom will host four distinguished Senior Leadership Fellows in the spring of 2024: Ecuador’s former president, the former Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, Colombia’s attorney general and the former president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
 
“The Adam Smith  Center is committed to providing our students with truly transformative experiences, such as the Senior Leadership Fellows Program,” said Carlos Díaz-Rosillo, founding director of the Center.  “This semester, once again, we anticipate a profound convergence of expertise and leadership that will undoubtedly enrich our community and expose it to world-class opportunities.”
 
Fellows will lead semester-long study groups, providing students with exclusive opportunities to connect. These weekly not-for-credit seminars provide a unique platform for study group participants to gain insights and perspectives directly from influential global leaders.
 
The first public event with the Senior Leadership Fellows will take place today, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Earlene and Albert Dotson pavilion at FIU, 10975 SW 17th St, Miami, FL. The event will feature a conversation between Díaz-Rosillo and the fellows. It is free and open to the public. To register for the event, visit freedom.fiu.edu. The study groups with the fellows begin this week and are for FIU students only.
 
The Spring 2024 Senior Leadership Fellows include:

Guillermo Lasso, president of Ecuador from 2021 to 2023. Lasso has had a decades-long career in the business sector, where he has held important positions in various financial institutions. He also has had extensive public sector experience, including serving as Governor of the Province of Guayas and Minister of Economy. Lasso founded Ecuador Libre, a think tank that promotes individual freedom, justice, free markets, private property, and the rule of law. He also founded the Creando Oportunidades (CREO) party. After two unsuccessful bids for the presidency, he was elected president of Ecuador in 2021.
 
“I am deeply excited to share my experience of more than 50 years working to strengthen democracy in Ecuador, leading from the private to the public sector. I look forward to discussing the diverse security, social, and economic challenges that Latin America faces,” Lasso said.

Francisco Barbosa, attorney general of Colombia since 2020. Before becoming attorney general, Barbosa served 20 years as a legal advisor in public institutions within the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in his country. He acted as a special prosecutor of the National Human Rights Unit at the attorney general's office between 2003 and 2004. Barbosa has also served as an external advisor to the Office of the Legal Representative of Bogotá, the Government of Cundinamarca, the Center for Peace and Reconciliation of the Mayor's Office of Bogotá, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transportation, the Excellence in Justice Corporation, and the Senate of the Republic.
 
“Justice is an essential pillar for building the rule of law in our region. There is no rule of law without justice Criminal prosecution makes societies safer and allows criminal phenomena such as human and drug trafficking to be restrained,” Barbosa said. “. “These are precisely the issues that my study group will discuss.”

Kimberly Reed, former president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Reed served as the first woman in charge of the Board of Directors, president, and CEO of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) — the nation’s official $135 billion export credit agency — from 2019 to 2021 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. She has been recognized as one of the “100 Women Leaders in STEM” and as one of the “Most Powerful Women in Washington,” according to Washingtonian magazine. Earlier in her career Reed acted as counsel to three committees of the U.S. Congress, where she conducted oversight and investigations. She currently serves on the boards of directors of several public companies.
 
“I am honored to share my leadership insights and examine innovative, free market, and merit-based principles with the graduate and undergraduate students at the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom. I also am excited to connect the students with executives across a variety of sectors — including business, government, media, NGOs, and academia — to discuss real-world skills that lead to prosperity, security, and peace,” Reed said.

Carlos Vecchio, former Venezuelan ambassador to the United States from 2019 to 2023. Vecchio led the process for recognizing the interim government of Venezuela before the Organization of American States and the government of the United States of America. He encouraged bipartisan support for Venezuelan freedom and played a crucial role in shaping U.S. sanctions against Maduro's regime and persuading the U.S. to become the main donor of humanitarian aid to Venezuela. He led the legal strategy for taking control of CITGO, Venezuela's primary asset in the U.S., and managed the Venezuelan migration crisis in the U.S., securing Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure for Venezuelan migrants.
 
“We will examine how to use diplomacy to combat dictatorships and fight for freedom, and the challenges of building a bipartisan agenda in the U.S. in a polarized environment, while dealing with an embassy under fire from the dictatorship and its international allies,” Vecchio said. “In particular, we will examine how those experiences and lessons in times of crise can be valuable tools in the professional journey, especially for those in international affairs, communication, or public policy.”