The Institute of the Americas diverse Board of Directors is composed of 22-member and includes respected business and civic leaders with on-going professional and personal ties across Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2021, we welcome the establishment of a new Hemispheric Advisory Board that will support a broader view of issues in the region. The three founding members are:
Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow
During his thirty-four-year career with the Department of State, Ambassador Davidow served both in Washington D.C. and overseas. He was the U.S. ambassador to Zambia, Venezuela and Mexico, and the Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. His years in Mexico coincided with the advent of a functioning multiparty system. He wrote about his experiences there and the nature of the U.S.-Mexico relationship in The Bear and the Porcupine, the U.S. and Mexico which highlights the complex and often difficult interaction of the two countries. After leaving the Foreign Service, he served as President of the Institute of the Americas for eight years. He is currently a Senior Counselor of the Cohen Group, a consultancy involved in international business strategies, headed by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
Enrique García
Mr. García serves as President Council of International Relations of Latin America (RIAL). He aims to ensure compliance with the objectives that the Council states: to prepare proposals and recommendations to improve the ability to analyze and provide relevant inputs for discussion and implementation of foeign policy in the region.
Former Executive President CAF (Development Bank of Latin America) Bolivia. He joined this role in 1991 and is currently a visiting professor in practice of the Department of International Relations at London School of Economics. Prior to his position with CAF, he was head of Bolivia’s economic and social cabinet, acting on behalf of his country as governor at the World Bank. He has also served as a member of the development committee of the IBRD and the IMF.
Paulo Sotero
Mr. Sotero is a Distinguished Fellow and Former Director Brazil Institute Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2006-2020). He is a current member of the Board of Directors at the Institute of the Americas. Mr. Sotero is an award winning journalist, from 1989 to 2006 he was the Washington correspondent for Estado de S.Paulo, a leading Brazilian daily newspaper. Sotero began his career at Veja in the late 1960s and worked for the magazine in São Paulo, Recife, Brasília, and Paris. He has been in Washington, D.C., since 1980, where he has been a correspondent for Istoé weekly magazine and the financial newspaper Gazeta Mecantil. He is a frequent guest commentator for the BBC, CNN, AlJazeera, Voice of America, National Public Radio, Globo News Television and the Brazilian Radio Network – CBN. He is originally from the state of São Paulo. Mr. Sotero holds a bachelor’s degree in History from the Catholic University of Pernambuco, and a Master’s in Journalism and Public Affairs from the American University, in Washington, D.C.
