Regional Migration Study Group - Member Biographies

Carlos M. Gutierrez, the 35th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce (2005-09), is Vice Chairman of the Institutional Clients Group for Citigroup. Before his government service, he was Chairman and CEO of the Kellogg Company, a global manufacturer and marketer of well-known food brands. Secretary Gutierrez was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1953 and came to the United States with his family in 1960. In 1975, he joined the Kellogg Company as a sales representative in Mexico City. After assignments in Latin America, Canada, Asia, and the United States, he became Kellogg’s President and CEO in 1999 and Chairman of the Board in April 2000. Secretary Gutierrez studied business administration at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Queretaro, Mexico.

Co-Chair Eduardo Stein

Eduardo Stein is the former Vice President (2004-08) and Foreign Minister (1996-2000) of the Republic of Guatemala. He participated actively in the Esquipulas peace process in Central America in the late 1980s and early ’90s, as well as in the San José Dialogue between Central America and the European Union. He has worked with various international organizations in development programs. Dr. Stein has been a consultant for the International Organization of Migration in Central America, and was IOM´s Chief of Mission in Panama (1994-96). He was Chief of the Organization of American States´ Electoral Observation Mission in Perú in 2000, which declared the process fraudulent in the face of numerous irregularities. He was one of 12 members of the International Commission on Sovereignty and Intervention that reported to the UN Secretary-General. Currently, Dr. Stein is an independent consultant, coordinates a Central American network of think tanks, and is member of the Board of the Inter-American Dialogue. He presides over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Honduras.

DIRECTORS

Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Demetrios G. Papademetriou is the Co-Founder of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and served as its founding President through June 2014. He is the convener of the Transatlantic Council on Migration, which is composed of senior public figures, business leaders, and public intellectuals from Europe, the United States, and Canada. Dr. Papademetriou is also the Co-Founder and International Chair Emeritus of Metropolis: An International Forum for Research and Policy on Migration and Cities. He served as Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Migration. Dr. Papademetriou has been Chair of the Migration Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Director of Immigration Policy and Research at the U.S. Department of Labor and Chair of the Secretary of Labor’s Immigration Policy Task Force; and Executive Editor of the International Migration Review. Dr. Papademetriou has published more than 250 books, articles, monographs, and research reports on migration topics and advises senior government and political party officials in more than 20 countries (including numerous European Union Member States while they hold the rotating EU presidency). Dr. Papademetriou holds a PhD in Comparative Public Policy and International Relations from the University of Maryland. For a full biography, click here.

Doris Meissner

Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), is a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), where she directs MPI's work on U.S. immigration policy. She is one of the Co-Directors of the Regional Migration Study Group. Ms. Meissner contributes to the Institute's work on immigration and national security, the politics of immigration, administering immigration systems and government agencies, and cooperation with other countries. From 1993 to 2000, she served in the Clinton administration as Commissioner of the INS, then part of the U.S. Department of Justice. Her accomplishments there included reforming the nation's asylum system; creating new strategies for managing US borders; improving services for immigrants; and shaping new responses to migration and humanitarian emergencies. She earned BA and MA degrees at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was also the first Executive Director of the National Women's Political Caucus. For a full biography, click here.

Andrew Selee

Andrew Selee is Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, which promotes dialogue and understanding between the United States and Mexico. Part of the Center’s Latin American Program, the Mexico Institute promotes policy studies, public forums, congressional briefings, media outreach, and a visiting scholars program. Dr. Selee also serves as a Co-Director of the Regional Migration Study Group. He is an Adjunct Professor of Government at Johns Hopkins University in the Advanced Academic Programs, and was previously an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at George Washington University and a visiting professor at El Colegio de Mexico. He serves on the board of the Mexico-U.S. Fulbright Program, the editorial board of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, and the editorial board of the journal Latin American Policy. He is an associate of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Mexican Collective for Security and Democracy. He received his PhD in Policy Studies from the University of Maryland; MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California, San Diego; and BA in Latin American Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.

MEMBERS

Hugo Beteta

Hugo Beteta is Director of the Subregional Headquarters in Mexico of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a position he has held since August 2009. Previously he worked as Secretary of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He was Guatemala’s Minister of Public Finances and head of the country’s Planning and Programming Secretariat. As member of the Ministers Council of Guatemala, he was governor of the IADB’s and World Bank’s Governors Assembly and alternate governor of the International Monetary Fund. A founding member of the Solar Foundation, he served as its Executive Director from 1993 to 1999. The foundation worked with government agencies, private sector, international cooperation organizations, and civil-society groups in three areas: renewable energy policies and projects, national environmental policies, and environmental management funding projects. Among other honors, Dr. Beteta was designated by the World Bank as one of ten “Reformers of the Year” in 2007. He was also a Fellow with the Fulbright Commission, Aga Khan, MIT Voorhees, and MacArthur Foundation. Dr. Beteta graduated with honors from the University of Michigan with a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering and Regional Planning. He also studied Economics for Development and Political Economics in the PhD program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He obtained his degree as civil engineer from the Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala, where he was Dean of the Economic Sciences Faculty and Vice Chancellor in charge of administration.

Lázaro Cárdenas Batel

Lázaro Cárdenas Batel completed his six-year term as Governor of the State of Michoacán in Mexico in February 2008. One of his top public policy priorities was working with Michoacán migrant workers to strengthen their hometown associations in the United States and to undertake local development projects in their communities of origin. He was one of the founding members of the National Conference of Governors (CONAGO) and its Commission for Migratory Issues. At the end of his term, he was selected to head a network of state governors for the development of rural territories in Latin America. Mr. Cárdenas is a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. He has also served in Mexico’s Congress, both in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies, where he was part of the Commissions of Foreign Relations, Cultural Affairs, and Indigenous Peoples. He was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, and he is a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America.

John Coatsworth

John Coatsworth has served as Dean of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs since 2008. Prior to his appointment, he served as Interim Dean (2007—08) and as visiting professor (2006—07). Dean Coatsworth previously served as the Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs at Harvard University (1992—2007) and was Founding Director of Harvard's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. He also chaired the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies. Prior to his work at Harvard, Dean Coatsworth was a member of the faculty at the University of Chicago. Other academic posts have included visiting professorships at El Colegio de México, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the National University of Buenos Aires, the Instituto Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires, and the Instituto Ortega y Gassett in Madrid. Dean Coatsworth is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations, the board of directors of the Tinker Foundation, and numerous professional associations. He is President of the Latin American Studies Association and former President of the American Historical Association. Dean Coatsworth received his BA in History from Wesleyan University, and his MA and PhD in Economic History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Luís de la Calle

Luís de la Calle is the Managing Director and Founding Partner at De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera, S.C. (CMM), and is responsible for managing CMM and offering strategic advice to clients on issues related to the economy, regulatory processes, and international trade. Prior to joining the private sector, Dr. de la Calle served as Undersecretary for International Trade Negotiations in Mexico’s Ministry of the Economy, a position to which he was appointed separately by both former Presidents Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo. In this capacity he negotiated several of Mexico’s bilateral free trade agreements, and regional and multilateral agreements with the World Trade Organization. During his term as Undersecretary he was a member of the Board at Pemex Exploration and Production and at the National Forest Commission; he was also Executive Secretary of the National Foreign Investment Commission. Before he took office as Undersecretary, Dr. de la Calle served as Trade and NAFTA Minister at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC, where he was instrumental in crafting and implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Dr. de la Calle also worked at the World Bank as Country Economist for the Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, and the former Zaire. Dr. de la Calle is a member of the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales, the Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, and the Board of Aeroméxico. A lecturer on international trade, the Mexican economy, and other fields of academic research, he has served as a professor at various academic institutions. He has a long list of publications and writes the bi-weekly column “¿Qué más?” for the Mexican daily El Universal. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo of Mexico and holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Antonia Hernández

Antonia Hernández joined the California Community Foundation as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2004. Established in 1915, the California Community Foundation is one of the largest and most active philanthropic organizations in Southern California, with assets of more than $1 billion. In partnership with its more than 1,200 individual, family, and corporate donors, the foundation supports nonprofit organizations and public institutions with funds for health and human services, affordable housing, early childhood education, community arts and culture, and other areas of need. Previously, Ms. Hernández was President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national nonprofit litigation and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of the nation’s Latinos through the legal system, community education, and research and policy initiatives. She is a member of the boards of directors of the national American Automobile Association, the Automobile Club of Southern California, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. She earned her BA in History at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and JD at the UCLA School of Law.

James R. Jones

James R. Jones is a Partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, where he focuses on international trade, investment and commerce, business-government relations, and financial services. A former U.S. Ambassador and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Jones has also worked extensively with global distribution and marketing organizations targeting Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. Mr. Jones provides business development advice and consulting for clients primarily in Mexico and Latin America. Additionally, he counsels clients on both business and government strategies in the United States. Prior to joining Manatt, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (1993-1997), where he was successful in his leadership during the Mexican peso crisis, the passage and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and in developing new, cooperative efforts to combat drug trafficking. He also assisted U.S. businesses with commercial ventures in Mexico. Mr. Jones’ previous experience also includes the position of President at Warnaco International, as well as Chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) in New York. During his tenure at AMEX, listings, revenues, and market share increased. As a member of the US House of Representatives from Oklahoma (1973-1987), he was Chairman of the House Budget Committee and a ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, where he was active in tax, international trade, Social Security, and health care policy. Mr. Jones was only 28 when President Lyndon Johnson selected him as Appointments Secretary, a position now known as chief of staff. He was the youngest person in history to hold this position.

Santiago Levy Algazi

Santiago Levy Algazi, a Mexican economist, became Vice President for Sector and Knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in March 2008. From August 2007 to February 2008, he served as the General Manager and Chief Economist for the IDB Research Department. From 2000-2005, he served as General Director at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). Under his tenure, he promoted changes to the Social Security Act to increase transparency and accountability in IMSS finances and create long-term reserves. From 1994 to 2000, he served as the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, becoming the main architect of the renowned social program Progresa-Oportunidades, which benefits the poor. He managed budgetary adjustments during the 1994-95 economic crisis and the 1998 fall in oil prices. His previous positions include President of the Federal Competition Commission and Director of the Economic Deregulation Program at the Ministry of Trade and Industrial Promotion. Dr. Levy has advised several governments and international organizations and has held several teaching positions, including faculty positions at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo of Mexico and Boston University. He holds a PhD in Economics and a Master’s in Political Economy from Boston University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University.

Monica Lozano

Monica Lozano was named Chief Executive Officer of impreMedia in May 2010. Prior to this appointment, she served as Senior Vice President for impreMedia, overseeing the company’s publishing group. Ms. Lozano has been in a leadership position at impreMedia since its founding in 2004, and has over 25 years of Hispanic media experience across virtually all business lines. She joined La Opinión in 1985 and it was under her leadership that the daily newspaper rose to national prominence as the nation’s largest and most influential Spanish-language publication in the United States. She retains the title of Publisher and CEO of La Opinión. She was responsible for the launch of new products, strategic growth initiatives, geographic expansion, and the transition to a multi-platform media company. Ms. Lozano is widely regarded as one of the most influential Latinas in the country, serving on the boards of the Bank of America, the Walt Disney Company, the University of California, and the University of Southern California. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to serve on his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. She has won numerous awards from media, and business and community groups, and is the recipient of three honorary doctoral degrees.

Jorge Luis Madrazo Cuéllar

Jorge Luis Madrazo Cuéllar served as Attorney General of Mexico from 1996-2000. He is Vice President of Community Relations at Sea Mar Community Health Centers in the State of Washington. Prior to this, Mr. Madrazo served as the Consul of Mexico in Seattle, Washington, from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Madrazo was an instructor for many years at the high school and undergraduate and graduate university levels, where he taught Humanities, Political Science, Civic Education, and Law. He is a member of the National Commission for Indigenous People of Mexico and was General Inspector and then President of the National Commission on Human Rights of the Government of Mexico (1992-96). He has served on the boards for Mexican, Argentine, and Colombian legal associations; the International Red Cross; the Washington State Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights Project; the American Diabetes Association; the Health Promotion Research Center, University of Washington; ECOSS and Seattle Rotary; and was on a UN Advisory Board and the Steering Committee of Casa Latina. Mr. Madrazo has published numerous articles and six books on law and human rights. He is an honors graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Law School and studied at the University of California at Davis.

Eliseo Medina

Eliseo Medina is the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's largest union of health care workers (2.2 million) and the union with the largest membership of immigrant workers. Mr. Medina also leads the union's efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. He led the effort to unite unions in the Change to Win federation and the AFL-CIO around a comprehensive framework for reform. Serving as a leading voice in Washington and frequently testifying before Congress, he has also helped to build a diverse coalition of community and national partners that have intensified the call for reform. Mr. Medina has also helped strengthen ties between the Roman Catholic Church and the labor movement to work on common concerns such as immigrant worker rights and access to health care. In his career as a labor activist, he has worked as a union organizer and political strategist, and served as the United Farm Workers' National Vice President. His interests in strategic organizing brought him to SEIU in 1986. He was a key strategist in the Los Angeles strike by SEIU Local 1877's building service workers, who in April 2000 won the largest wage increase in the 15-year history of SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaign. Mr. Medina was elected in 1996 to serve as International Executive Vice-President of SEIU, the first Mexican American elected to a top post in the union.

Diana Natalicio

Diana Natalicio was named President of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 1988. She previously served as the university’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Liberal Arts, and Chair of the Modern Languages department. During her tenure as President, UTEP’s enrollment has grown to more than 22,000 students, its annual budget has increased from $65 million to more than $383 million, research expenditures have grown from $6 million to nearly $60 million per year, and doctoral programs from one to 17. She has served as member and Vice Chair of the National Science Board, on the boards of the US-Mexico Foundation for Science, the Sandia Corporation and Internet2. Her current appointments include the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the American Council on Education, and Trinity Industries. She is a recipient of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education, was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, and was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the University of Texas at Austin. A graduate of St. Louis University, Dr. Natalicio earned a Master’s degree in Portuguese and a Doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin.

John D. Negroponte

John D. Negroponte, the former Director of National Intelligence, is Vice Chairman of McLarty Associates, a position which followed a distinguished career in diplomacy and national security. Ambassador Negroponte held government positions abroad and in Washington between 1960 and 1997 and from 2001 to 2008. He has been Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. He served twice on the National Security Council staff: first as Director for Vietnam in the Nixon administration and then as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a Cabinet-level position as the first Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as Deputy Secretary of State, where he served as the State Department’s chief operating officer. While in the private sector from 1997 to 2001, Ambassador Negroponte was Executive Vice President of the McGraw-Hill Companies, with responsibility for overseeing its international activities. During those years he was also Chairman of the French-American Foundation. Ambassador Negroponte recently began a part-time position at his alma mater, Yale University, as a Distinguished Senior Research Fellow in grand strategy and as a lecturer in international affairs. He also serves as Chairman of the Council of the Americas/Americas Society and as a Trustee of the Asia Society. Ambassador Negroponte has received numerous awards in recognition of his more than four decades of public service, including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Medal on two separate occasions, the highest award which can be conferred by the Secretary of State. In 2009, President Bush awarded Ambassador Negroponte the National Security Medal for his outstanding contributions to U.S. national security.

Rogelio Ramírez de la O

Rogelio Ramírez de la O is President of Ecanal, a private economic advisory firm dedicated to the analysis of Mexico’s economy and the climate for investment, with multinational clients and operations in Mexico in beverages, autos, auto parts, chemicals, machinery, consumer goods, and hedge funds. Dr. Ramírez consults regularly with companies on issues relating to Mexico’s economic outlook. He is non-Executive Director of Reaseguradora Patria S.A. and of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Mexico. He is also a member of various professional groups, including the Conference of Business Economists in Washington and the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee in New York. Dr. Ramírez has been a contributor to study projects on macro policy in Mexico, international trade and investment, and government policy for nonprofit organizations in the United States, Canada, and Europe, including the Center of International Strategic Studies in Washington, DC, SAIS-John Hopkins, Canada’s Fraser Institute, CD Howe Institute, and the Pacific Council on International Affairs. In 2006, he coordinated the economic program of presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He holds a PhD in Economics from Cambridge University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Andrés Rozental

Andrés Rozental was Mexico’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1995 to 1997. He was a career diplomat for more than 35 years, having served his country as Deputy Foreign Minister (1988-94), Ambassador to Sweden (1983-88), Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva (1982-83), as well as in various responsibilities within the Mexican Foreign Ministry and abroad. He has been a foreign policy advisor to Mexican Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. Currently, Ambassador Rozental holds nonexecutive board positions in several multinational corporations in Brazil, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and México. He chairs the Board of ArcelorMittal Mexico and is an independent board member of ArcelorMittal Brazil, Ocean Wilson Holdings, and Wilson Sons Brazil. He is President of Rozental & Asociados, a consulting firm that specializes in advising multinational companies on their corporate strategies in Latin America. He is a Senior Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Senior Advisor to Chatham House in London, a Board Member of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, and a former Trustee of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He was the Founding President of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, established in 2001. Ambassador Rozental obtained his professional degree in international relations from the Universidad de las Américas in México, and his Master’s in International Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Luis Rubio

Luis Rubio is Chairman of the Center of Research for Development (CIDAC), 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. Before joining CIDAC, 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 the Central European Value Fund, Inc., and is a former member of the Board of Directors of Banamex and Banco Obrero. He served on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District and is member of the Trilateral Commission. He is a contributing editor ofReforma and his analyses and opinions often appear in major newspapers and journals in Mexico, the United States, and Europe (including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and National Public Radio). He was the winner of the APRA book award in 1985, in 1993 was given the Dag Hammarksjold award, and in 1998 the National Journalism Award for op-ed pieces. He is author and editor of 45 books. His most recent isClasemediero: Pobre no mas, desarrollado aun no (Middle Class: Poor No More, Not Yet Developed). He holds a diploma in Financial Management, a MMBA, and his MA and PhD in political science from Brandeis University.

James W. Ziglar

James W. Ziglar, former Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), is a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) where his work focuses on U.S. immigration policy, as well as border-control and security initiatives. From 1998-2001, he served as Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate, a position which made him the Senate’s chief operating officer, chief protocol officer, and chief law enforcement officer. He left that post in 2001 when President George W. Bush appointed him INS Commissioner, a position he held until December 2002 when the agency was dissolved and its missions transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Ziglar began his law career as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. He later was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School, where he taught immigration and constitutional law, and was a Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics. Among his many appointments to outside boards, he previously served as a director of the National Immigration Forum, Human Rights First, and MPI. For a full biography, click here.

PROJECT MANAGER

Victoria Rietig

Victoria Rietig is a Policy Analyst at MPI, where she works for the Regional Migration Study Group and the Transatlantic Council on Migration. Her research expertise includes forced migration, human trafficking, labor migration, and international development. She conducted field research on forced migration in Mexico, analyzing the impact of organized crime and violence on human trafficking. Ms. Rietig received her master's in public policy from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, where she worked on forced migration, negotiations, and international development. She also holds an M.A. in American studies, history, and psychology from Freie Universität Berlin. For a full biography, click here.