Non-Resident Fellows

Cecilia Aguillon

San Diego, California

Cecilia Aguillon is a renewable energy professional with over 20 years of experience in solar energy policy, business development, marketing, public relations and financial management in both private and public sectors. Cecilia currently acts as a consultant on renewable energy projects and policy throughout the Americas. From 2018 thru 2022 Cecilia worked at the Institute of the Americas as Director of the Energy Transition Initiative promoting renewable energy policies and facilitating public-private dialogues to help Latin American countries develop sustainable clean electricity markets. In 1998 Cecilia joined Kyocera Solar, Inc., a leading solar technology manufacturer, and worked on business development and government relations for 18 years.

Soffia Alarcon

New York City

Soffia Alarcon-Diaz was recently appointed Associate Director, Americas, Sustainability Business at Schneider Electric, where she leads regional sustainability services with a strong focus on climate risk, ESG and net zero frameworks. 

Previously, she was the Director of Sustainable Finance at IHS Markit where she supported the development of the next generation of ESG solutions to advise corporate and financial institutions on how to disclose and manage ESG and climate-related risks. Prior to joining IHS Markit, she was Director of Carbon Trust Mexico where she spearheaded the expansion of the activities on green and sustainable bonds, sustainable agriculture and transport, energy efficiency, carbon markets and certification across LATAM. In 2012, she worked for the World Resources Institute in DC and later joined Mexico’s public sector as Director of Climate Change Mitigation Policy to lead the design of the National Emissions Register as well as the implementation of the Climate Change Law for the country. Soffia holds a master’s degree on Public Administration from Columbia University. She is also Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) fellow and was one of the international judges for the Million Cool Roofs Challenge. In 2021, she was named #Gamechanger by the Bloomberg Business week magazine. In the academic world, she taught a course on climate change policy and science and has collaborated in different magazines and television networks across Latin America.

Thiago de Aragão

Washington, D.C.

Thiago is the CEO at Arko International, one of the leading public affairs firms focused in Latin America. He has given presentations about the Latin American political environment as well as China – Latam relations in over a dozen countries and universities in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. A specialist in political risk analysis and political network analysis, through his firm he has advises over 100 companies, rating agencies and investment funds from the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia. He is a columnist at the main Brazilian newspaper, Estado de São Paulo and co-editor and co-presenter of the China-Latam Podcast. In 2021, Thiago testified at the US Congress on the key aspects of the Chinese strategy in Latin America. Thiago is an alum of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Leonardo Beltran

Mexico City, Mexico

Leonardo Beltran was Deputy Secretary for Planning and Energy Transition in the Administration of President Peña Nieto (2012-2018). As part of his responsibilities, he was appointed non-executive director of CFE and Pemex. He was the Chief Planning Officer and the Chief Technology Officer in the Mexican Energy Sector. Leonardo has also been part of the World Economic Forum’s Council of the Future of Electricity (2014-2016), and the Council of the Future of Energy (2016-2018). Currently he is a member of the Advisory Council of the Partnering to Accelerate Sustainable Energy Innovation Project.

Trinidad Castro

Santiago de Chile

M. Trinidad Castro Crichton is the Executive Director of the World Energy Council Chile, a platform for open dialogue between high-level leaders from the public and private sectors and academia, where the most important issues of the country’s energy sector are addressed.

Castro is a commercial engineer and has extensive experience in management in the nonprofit and corporate sectors, specifically in the design, operation and commercial execution of projects. She has a strong orientation toward achievement and management by objectives. She has an autonomous management capacity, proactive personality, with the ability to establish interpersonal relationships and lead work in multidisciplinary teams. 

Castro holds a Bachelor in Business Administration & Economy from Universidad de los Andes and a Diploma from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Public Policy. For the last two years she has been studying for a Master in Innovation at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Santiago Chile.

She is very happy to be part of this select group of experts where she hopes to contribute in particular with a citizen’s view on the challenges and issues to be addressed.

Andres Chambouleyron

 Buenos Aires, Argentina/Miami, Florida, USA

Andres Chambouleyron is non-resident fellow at the Institute of the Americas. Before joining Ankura, Andres was Managing Director at Berkeley Research Group (BRG).

He has worked extensively in the private sector as an economist and consultant for public utilities (electricity, natural gas, water and sanitation, and telecommunications) and other regulated and non-regulated businesses. His work involves economic analysis, pricing and rate setting, valuation, business advisory, regulatory design and analysis mostly in the energy sector.

In the public sector, Dr. Chambouleyron has been economic advisor to Argentina’s Secretary of Communications (2000), where he helped design and implement the country’s new regulatory framework (i.e., interconnection, spectrum management, universal service, and licensing regimes); and advisor to Argentina’s Minister of Economy (2001) on regulatory and energy issues.

Before joining the Institute of the Americas Dr. Chambouleyron was Chairman of the Board of Argentina’s National Electricity Regulator (ENRE, 2018-2020) that regulates rates and quality of service for two electricity distribution companies in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (six million users), one 500 KV electricity transmission company (fifteen million users), and seven 132 KV regional transmission companies. He has also been Undersecretary of Tariff Policy at Argentina’s Ministry of Energy and Mining (2015-2017), where he designed and implemented a subsidy reduction program to both electricity generation and natural gas production and a social tariff regime for low-income families.

Dr. Chambouleyron has provided written or oral testimony as an expert in more than twenty arbitration cases in sectors ranging from electricity generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas production, transportation and distribution, to water and sanitation services, telecommunications and satellite services. He has provided consulting services to both private companies and regulatory authorities throughout Latin America on regulatory issues such as interconnection rates and tariffs for both fixed and mobile telecommunication operators, X factors, and tariff calculation for price-cap regimes in telecoms; natural gas distribution companies and electricity and natural gas distribution and transportation companies.

Dr. Chambouleyron holds MA (1992) and PhD (1995) degrees in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin and his research on pricing and regulatory issues has been published in several professional journals. He has collaborated in writing two chapters in two books related to the economics of crime and price and quality discrimination practices by unregulated monopolies. He has taught courses in microeconomics, industrial organization, and regulation at both undergraduate and graduate levels in local universities.

Carlos Eduardo Correa

Bogotá, Colombia.

In October 2020, Mr. Correa was appointed as the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development in Colombia. From this office he has positioned the country as an international benchmark in the fight against climate change, positive biodiversity, as well as the protection of the oceans. As a result, he was appointed as Champion for Nature by the World Economic Forum.

He has been recognized by National Geographic for promoting the protection of 30% of marine and terrestrial areas globally before 2030, an action that Colombia fulfilled in 2022, eight years earlier; recently has been fellow of the Eisenhower Program and nominated as one of the 100 latinos most committed to climate action 2022.

During his time in public administration, Carlos Eduardo Correa has shown how sustainable and resilient territories can be built. As mayor of Montería (2012-2015), he positioned it as a sustainable city and under that vision he turned the Sinú River into the axis of social, cultural and economic development.

Carlos Garibaldi

Montevideo, Uruguay

Carlos Garibaldi is currently the Executive Secretary of ARPEL, based in Montevideo.  ARPEL is the Association of Oil, gas and Renewable Energy Companies of Latin America and the Caribbean.

With over 40 years of industry experience, Carlos has developed expertise in corporate strategy, E&P portfolio planning and valuation, business development (exploration new ventures and M&A), contractual and fiscal terms design, tender design and international negotiations.

Carlos has held technical, managerial, and executive roles in Amoco, San Jorge, Chevron, The Scotia Group, Harrison Lovegrove, Standard Chartered Bank, Tecpetrol, HSBC, Ecopetrol, Arthur D. Little and Plata Energy.  

Carlos earned a professional degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, a M.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa, and an MBA from Rice University

Marta Jara Otero

 Montevideo, Uruguay

Former President of the Shell companies in Mexico, former President of ANCAP (Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland), Uruguay.
She is currently Head of Ventus Hidrógeno, a multi-latin company pioneering the development of green hydrogen for heavy transport, sponsor of first-of-a-kind project Kahirós, and acts as board member, subject matter expert and business consultant.
Marta is also Founder of Xplash, a provider of immersive training experiences using virtual reality.
Member of the Advisory Board of the Stimson Center Latin American program and Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of the Americas.
Chemical Engineer, MA in Strategic Financial Management MS in Data Science.

Carla Lacerda

 Houston, Texas

Carla Lacerda retired in early January 2021, after 35 years with ExxonMobil. She was President of the Brazil affiliate with a focus on managing a robust upstream portfolio, having been associated with oversight of Brazil business for approximately 20 years. Throughout her career, she made significant contributions across many roles at ExxonMobil, including technical roles in Geochemistry, Exploration offshore South America, Gas Commercialization, Commercial Management for the Americas, and Strategy Development. 

She was also chairperson of the exploration and production association in Brazil (ABEP/IBP), working on various aspects of advocacy and regulatory frameworks for the industry, with demonstrated effective leadership in dealing with government, regulatory agencies, and business community. Currently, Carla is on the Advisory Board of the Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce (Bratecc). In addition, Carla is active in Diversity and Inclusion initiatives (i.e. Mentorship Programs), with industry association IBP, Bratecc, and other organizations. In 2022, she joined the Institute of the Americas as a Non-Resident Fellow with the Energy & Sustainability Program.

Carla has Bachelor and Master Degrees in Chemical Oceanography from Florida Institute of Technology and Texas A&M University, respectively. She is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and conversational French.

Nelson Narciso Filho

 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Nelson Narciso is a professional with more than 40 years of experience in the energy sector, where he has accumulated deep knowledge in the oil and gas industry, especially in the areas of engineering, manufacturing and installation of subsea drilling and production equipment and services in the Exploration and Production segment. Throughout his career as a privatesector executive, he held prominent positions at operators and services companies such as Halliburton, ABB, Vetco Gray, HRT Africa and Hughes WKM, covering operations in Brazil, Namibia and Angola.

In the public sphere, he served as a Director of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) in Brazil from 2006 to 2010.

Currently he is the President of NNF Energy, a consulting firm specialized in regulatory affairs, and the integration of projects in the energy sector, with a strong presence in the African continent. In addition to his consulting work, Nelson Narciso has held several advisory positions at distinguished public and private entities. He was a Councilor for the Brazilian Economic and Social Development Council (CDES), a consultative policy forum that directly advised the President of the Republic on policy issues, and he is currently a Senior NonResident Fellow at the Institute of the Americas.

Nelson Narciso also has relevant activity in industry conferences as panelist and moderator at major conferences such as the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC Houston and Rio de Janeiro), Rio Oil and Gas, and La Jolla Energy Summit of the Institute of the Americas. Nelson Narciso holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a specialization in Economic Engineering and Business Administration.

Francisco Xavier Salazar Diez de Sollano

 Mexico City, Mexico

Francisco Xavier Salazar Diez de Sollano is a partner at Gadex, Enix and Trust Mexico. Gadex is a consulting firm specialized in the natural gas market in Mexico, Enix is devoted to energy regulation while Trust Mexico analyses socio political risks for infrastructure projects in the country.

Francisco is also the Coordinator of the International Confederation of Regulators (ICER).

In 2016, he was appointed as the first “Institute of the Americas Regional Energy Integration Non-Resident Fellow” and as executive fellow at the School of Public Policy of the University of Calgary.

During 2015-2017, he was Chair of the Mexican Chapter of the World Energy Council (WEC). In 2017 he became a member of COMEXI, the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations

From 2005 to 2015, he served as Chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) time during which he was an active promoter of energy reform in Mexico. During 2011-2015 he chaired the Ibero-American Energy Regulators Association (ARIAE).

Prior to being a regulator, he was a congressman for two terms. In Congress he served as a Chairman of the Energy Committee at the Chamber of Deputies.

At the beginning of his professional career, he also was involved in the Chemical Sector.

Mr. Salazar holds an MSc in Public Financial Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi, and Diploma studies in Law and Economics from other universities.

He has taught courses on Public Finance and Monetary Economics at local universities in San Luis Potosi and written on the use of economic instruments in environmental public policy, as well as on energy policy and regulation. Mr. Salazar has also participated as member of editorial boards from major newspapers and business magazines in Mexico.

Chris Sladen

 Uplyme, Devon, United Kingdom

Chris is an advocate for better energy solutions than the ones we have used so far!

Chris is well known across the energy sector, particularly for laying a framework for co-investment between public and private sector energy companies, whilst explaining the different elements of project, contract and country risk. He has a track record of helping governments and regulators to optimise private and co-investment.

His focus as a non-resident fellow at the Institute includes low carbon and zero carbon policies and energy technologies, particularly geothermal and hydrogen, being implemented across the globe, especially in Latin America, Europe/UK and Australasia.

Chris is author of the widely read ‘Energy Matters’ op-ed that tackles big energy issues using real-life personal experiences, extensive research and verification. Chris contributes to numerous media articles and research pieces, and is frequently quoted on energy and climate issues by both the energy press and mainstream media. His articles reflect his passion for the energy sector and how to achieve better outcomes. He has published extensively over five decades.

Chris also has experience acquired on Boards of companies, advisory boards, and business chambers, including the Board of Directors of the Institute of Americas from 2014 through 2021. He has a doctorate in geoscience from the University of Reading and has researched lake systems and their economic importance for over 40 years. His contributions to energy and education have been recognised by the UK Government with both an MBE and CBE, and also the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican Government – the first foreigner in the energy sector to receive this.

Rene Roger Tissot

 Vernon, British Columbia, Canada

Rene Roger Tissot is an economist, MBA and a CPA with deep experience in international energy policy and geopolitics. Roger started his career at the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI), where he led the Institute’s international research, particularly in Latin America. He also worked as international government relations for a large Canadian oil company with largely focused on Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina. Later at Washington based consultancy he advised energy corporations on Latin America’s energy policy issues. More recently, Roger led program at Kapsarc, a Saudi energy economic think-tank research on policy evaluation and design on in-country value addition and local content in the oil sector. His research focused on East Africa, particularly Uganda and Mozambique. Since completing his assignment in Saudi Arabia, Roger has advised different organizations and recently completed a study for the Sultanate of Oman on the In-Country Value-added and local content policies. Roger is also engaged in work on a PhD in Global Studies at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan).

Camilo Velandia Perico

 Colombia

Independent Consultant, UMAS Associate Consultant & Non-Resident Fellow, Institute of the Americas

Camilo Velandia Perico is an Independent Consultant and Associate Consultant with UMAS International, where he continues to contribute to research and advisory work on maritime decarbonization. He previously served as a Senior Consultant at UMAS, leading projects on techno-economic modeling of alternative marine fuels, life cycle assessment, and policy analysis
for governments, NGOs, and international organizations. His work included key contributions to the Fourth IMO Greenhouse Gas Study, assessments of green corridor opportunities, and advising delegations during the development of the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework.

Camilo began his career as a Researcher at University College London (UCL), where he developed the foundations of techno-economic modeling and life cycle assessment for the shipping sector. These skills were further advanced through his consultancy work at UMAS, where he combined technical analysis with policy insights.

He is currently based in Colombia, and, in parallel with his ongoing affiliation with UMAS, serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of the Americas, bringing a regional perspective to global discussions on how Latin America can engage with and benefit from the maritime and energy transitions.

Guido Maiulini

 Quito, Ecuador

Guido Maiulini is a diplomat and energy affairs specialist. He currently serves as Head of Strategic Advisory at the Latin American & Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE), where he leads the political and institutional strategy with a focus on energy transitions in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting regional energy integration and sustainability.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from the University of Buenos Aires and is a graduate of the Argentine Foreign Service Institute. He has an outstanding career in the political-diplomatic management of energy integration processes in transition contexts, the design of strategies for climate change mitigation through sustainable policies, and the leadership of international negotiations and multilateral cooperation in the region.

Doug Liden

 La Jolla, CA.

Doug Liden is a water infrastructure engineer and cross-border environmental policy leader with more than three decades of experience advancing wastewater, drinking water, stormwater, and water reuse solutions along the U.S.–Mexico border. He joins the Institute of the Americas as a Non-Resident Fellow in March 2026, following a distinguished 34-year career with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

For nearly two decades, Doug served as EPA’s U.S.–Mexico Border Water Engineer, managing 15 major infrastructure projects totaling more than $50 million and benefiting approximately two million residents in border communities. He played a central technical role in addressing chronic contamination in the Tijuana River watershed, leading feasibility studies under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and overseeing EPA-funded modeling of wastewater plume movement, erosion, and flooding in the San Diego–Tijuana region. While serving as an Embassy Science Fellow at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Doug helped draft the agreement for a $474 million wastewater investment package—later adopted as “Minute 328” to the 1944 Water Treaty—marking one of the most significant recent binational environmental infrastructure commitments.

Earlier in his EPA career, Doug managed a $30 million cross-border wastewater project in Mexicali that resolved a longstanding sewage dispute and conducted environmental assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As a Clean Water Act regulator, he authored discharge permits for municipal and industrial facilities, including ocean desalination plants, mines, refineries, power plants, and wastewater treatment systems, and contributed to national revisions of effluent guidelines.

Doug is the recipient of numerous honors, including EPA’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, the Russell Train Sustainability Award, and a 2025 “Bridge-Builder Award” from the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. He has also received formal recognition from the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and the City of San Diego for his leadership in advancing binational environmental cooperation.

He is the co-author of peer-reviewed research on real-time sewage detection, wastewater plume modeling, and erosion dynamics in transboundary watersheds. Fluent in Spanish, Doug holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

At the Institute of the Americas, Doug will contribute expertise in cross-border water governance, infrastructure finance, watershed resilience, desalination and water reuse policy, and binational environmental diplomacy, supporting IOA’s work across the Americas on sustainable water solutions and environmental cooperation.