Board of Governors 2021 – 2024

Catalina Cabello Rodríguez has a Bachelor of Business Administration and is an Economics Major from the University of Miami, an MBA from the Adolfo Ibáñez University with the title of the “Best Strategic Business Student”, and is a graduate of the Business Management Program (PADE) from the Los Andes University. She has more than 35 years of experience in executive positions in the areas of Administration, Finance, Compliance, Business Development and Logistics in multinational companies in Latin America, including PWC, BHP Billiton Minera Escondida, The Walt Disney Co Chile, Blockbuster Chile, Joy Global Inc (now Komatsu), among others.

Labor Lawyer from Universidad Finis Terrae, Master in Strategy and Business Management from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and graduate of the Senior Business Management Program PADE- ESE Business School of Universidad de Los Andes. She also holds certifications from The Change Management Learning Center and MIT Sloan Management Education on Digital Transformation.

She has extensive experience in multinational and national companies, at local and corporate level, acting as a change agent and aligning people management to business strategy. In her career she has stood out for her leadership in the formation of global teams and people, managing multiple simultaneous projects, developing organizational talent and leading collective negotiations, implementing innovative solutions.

Among the companies where she has held management positions are Lan Airlines, Embotelladora Andina, Iansa, Komatsu Latin American and Bupa Chile. She is currently the Vice President of Human Resources at Antofagasta Minerals.

Claudia Torres Barrenechea is an independent dental surgeon from the University of Chile, Director of Banigualdad Foundation and Director of the Santiago College Alumni Association Corporation.

She served as Director of Student Affairs at the Andrés Bello University and was Vice-Rector of Research and Extension in the same higher education area. Claudia has actively participated in the SC community in different roles, such as president of the Parent’s Association 2008-2011, as a member of the Board of Governors of the Santiago College Educational Foundation for the period 2010-2012, and currently in her position as Alumni Director.

She is currently pursuing a degree in Philosophy at the Los Andes University.

Bishop Jorge Merino Riffo is a representative nominated by the Methodist Church for the period 2018-2022. He has been a bishop of the Methodist Church of Chile since 2018. He completed his studies at the CTE (Comunidad Teológica Evangélica de Chile), graduating with a Bachelor of Theology.

Bishop Merino’s ministerial work has been carried out in: Angol, El Vergel, Huequén, Tomé I and II, Penco, IMEMA, Avanzada San Lucas, Iquique I, Nueva Vida (A. Hospicio) and Avanzada Huara.

Virginia Cartes Garrido has a Bachelor’s of Elementary Education and is a Teacher of History, Geography and Civic Education from the Austral University, Chile. She has a Master’s in Education from the Autónoma University, Chile and a Master’s in Education Quality Management from the Miguel de Cervantes University.  She has completed diplomas and professional development at the Católica University and the Diego Portales University.

Since 2013, she has been the Director of the Liceo Bicentenario Metodista William Taylor, located in Alto Hospicio, and has been the President of the Methodist Ministry of Education for the 2020-2021 period.

She has 20 years of work experience in the classroom, most of it as a teacher at Escuela #7 Metodista de Valdivia. In 2003 she received the Pedagogical Excellence Award from the Ministry of Education of Chile (Mineduc) and since 2004 she has belonged to the Teaching Network of Mineduc teachers.

David Valenzuela Bowie has spent the 45 years of his professional career dedicated to supporting vulnerable populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. During 31 of these years, he worked with the Inter-American Foundation, a public organization that provides donations for experimental grassroots development projects, having served as president and CEO for the last five years, and the Peace Corps where he was director in El Salvador and Chile.

In previous years, he was program officer for the International Secretariat for Voluntary Service in Latin America based in Geneva, Switzerland, and representative for the Andean Zone of Church World Service based in Lima, Peru. During the last nine years of his professional career, Mr. Valenzuela was mission chief for large-scale development projects in conflict zones in Peru and Colombia. Born in Concepción, Chile, he completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the American University, Washington, DC.

Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland, Research Associate at the NBER, Research Fellow at IZA, and International Research Fellow at Clapes-UC.  He received his PhD and Master in Economics from the University of Chicago and his BA from the University of Chile.

He has a vast experience teaching in universities in the United States and Latin America. He has been adviser for the World Bank, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE), United Nations and for the Inter-American Development Bank. Since 2015 he is co-director for the Labor Network of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA), project that focus in generating and disseminating economics research in the region.

In the public policies field, he was coordinator for labor markets in the Chilean Ministry of Finance (2010-2011) and has been member of different technical committees, including the National Productivity Commission of Chile (2018-2022).

He is among the five most quoted Chilean academics in the economics area and is a regular columnist for the local newspaper El Mercurio.

María del Carmen Cortés Arce is an architect from the University of Chile with vast experience in local development activities with governmental and non-profit organizations. Since 2006, she has been the Director of the Institute for International Education of Students (IES Abroad), a non-profit educational organization that administers study abroad programs for American students. She has served on the board of the Fulbright Chile Commission, at Casa de Esperanza in St. Paul, Minnesota and currently at EPES (Popular Health Education) in Santiago.

Her professional experience includes economic development programs for women and communities in multicultural settings. In addition, she is a coach and facilitator in leadership development, organizational management, team organization and management, and multicultural communications.

Civil Engineer in Electricity from Universidad de Santiago, MBA in General Business Management from the Escuela de Negocios Española IEDE and MBA in Business Management and Organization from  Universidad de Lérida, Spain. In addition, he studied in the Advanced Management Program of the Corporate Governance Center of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

With more than 25 years of experience he has led companies and has held management positions, forming work teams in the commercial, operations and technical areas, in national and multinational service companies at a massive and corporate level. As an executive, he has stood out for his ability to quickly adapt to new challenges, generate favorable conditions for teamwork, orient business towards sustainability and foster relationships with stakeholders.

His vast experience includes management positions in companies such as VTR, Aguas Chañar (CEO), Entel and Metro de Santiago (CEO), and he is currently General Manager of Traza Ltda, one of the main companies in the country, a provider of field services for the telecommunications industry.