About the group
The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center (AALAC) has convened a nonpartisan, hemispheric, and multisectoral group of practitioners to help translate nearshoring from rhetoric into reality, with an initial focus on Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Nearshoring Working members include former government officials, private sector leaders, and other subject matter experts from Central America, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and the United States. The project was announced at a June Atlantic Council event with two US senators and two Latin American ministers.
Impact goals
The Nearshoring Working Group collects, develops, and provides concrete recommendations on how to provide the right mix of local and external conditions and incentives for greater US supply chain and socioeconomic investment in Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic; as well as create a unique platform for consensus building and advancing the most critical policy issues that will help to spur nearshoring potential. Recommendations will be supported and complemented by forward-thinking research on the comparative advantage by sector and country/locality of where and why the greatest nearshoring potential exists.
Members
About the members
Everett Eissenstat
Everett Eissenstat is a global trade expert with more than two decades of service in governmental and corporate roles. Eissenstat has held senior positions in Congress, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the White House, and a Fortune 500 company, where he managed geopolitical risk, influenced international economic policy, and devised trade and investment strategies for clients. As chief international trade counsel and assistant US trade representative for the Americas, Eissenstat helped negotiate comprehensive bilateral free trade agreements.
Antoni Estevadeordal
Antoni Estevadeordal is Resident Fellow of the Georgetown Americas Institute where he leads the project “Latin America in the Global Economy.” He has held several senior executive positions at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a career spanning more than twenty-five years. In a variety of roles, he oversaw the IDB’s relationships with all its European stakeholders. For more than a decade, he was responsible for IDB support to the trade and integration agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also coordinated IDB’s technical assistance, research agenda, and capacity building. He also coordinated several of IDB’s public-private policy dialogues and inter-institutional partnerships in areas such as trade policy, trade negotiations, trade facilitation, investment promotion, and regional integration.
Mario Di Giovanni
Mario Di Giovanni is a government affairs advisor for the FedEx Express Regulatory and Government Affairs team in Miami, Florida. Di Giovanni supports the company’s strategic government affairs initiatives, including the strengthening of data and intelligence gathering, as well as regulatory and legislative monitoring. He also supports the development of materials for relevant government engagements and advocacy opportunities throughout the region. Prior to joining FedEx, Di Giovanni was an intelligence analyst for Guidepost Solutions and a political consultant at Newlink. His previous experience includes work in public affairs, political consultancy, communication strategies, and private investigative matters for Fortune 500 companies.
José González-Campo
Jose Gonzalez-Campo is a senior director of corporate affairs and sustainability in Corporacion Multi Inversiones. CMI is multinational family-owned corporation of Latin American origin that generates investment, employment and development in the region. Founded in Guatemala in 1920, it currently employs over 40,000 people in 15 countries on three continents. José González-Campo joined CMI as the Corporate Affairs Director in 2017. Before that, he was the Executive Director of Grupo PreCon (2005-2017).
Jaime Granados
Jaime Granados is a trade and investment division chief of the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Before that, he coordinated the IDB’s trade and integration hub for Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Prior to joining the IDB, he was director of international trade negotiations at the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica. He was also a professor of trade and integration in the Americas at Georgetown University’s School of Law in Washington, DC. He has published or edited various books and articles on trade and integration, including an edition of Zonas Francas, Comercio y Desarrollo en América Latina y El Caribe, Análisis Crítico de sus Oportunidades y Desafíos, which he co-edited with Alejandro Ramos.
Brennan Grignon
Brennan Grignon has a background spanning finance, nonprofits, and federal agencies. Grignon led supply chain initiatives at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Grignon advised the White House and developed supply chain strategies for the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. At the Logistics Management Institute, Grignon directed the R&D Institute, offering strategic planning and workforce development for clients such as NASA, the US Army, and the General Services Administration.
Andrew Herscowitz
Andrew Herscowitz has spent over two decades as a senior US development diplomat across four continents, specializing in international finance and energy access. He led the Power Africa initiative, a US government-led partnership aimed at increasing access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. As the inaugural chief development officer at the US International Development Finance Corporation, he directed a seventy-five billion dollar development strategy. Additionally, his legal experience includes shaping the framework for the United States Agency for International Development’s Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Herscowitz has received two African Power, Energy & Water Industry awards, as well as the Service to Americas medal.
Karim Lesina
Karim Lesina has been EVP and chief external affairs officer at Millicom since 2020. In this role, he leads government relations, regulatory affairs, corporate communications, and environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives. Focused on global engagement for business objectives, he specializes in special situations and reputation strategies. Prior to joining Millicom, Lesina directed international and regulatory affairs teams at AT&T. With an agency background, he began his career in multinational public relations firms. Lesina is also a co-chair at the Meridian International Center. He serves as a board member at IREX, the International Institute of Communications, the US Telecommunication Training Institute, and the GSMA Chief Policy & Regulatory Officer Group.
Charles Lichfield
Charles Lichfield is the deputy director and C. Boyden Gray senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. He previously worked as an analyst in Eurasia Group’s Europe team, leading coverage on France and Germany, deputizing on Brexit, and monitoring European security, trade, neighborhood, and energy policies. His analysis and commentary have been featured on Bloomberg News, the BBC, the Financial Times, Le Figaro, and Bild-Zeitung. Lichfield holds an MSc in economics from the University of London and an MA in German and Russian from the University of Cambridge.
Jason Marczak
Jason Marczak is vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, which he joined in 2013 to launch the center. Marczak has more than twenty years of experience in regional economics, politics, and development, working with policymakers and private-sector executives to shape public policy. Since 2016, Marczak has been an adjunct professor at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He was previously director of policy at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, co-founder and senior editor of Americas Quarterly magazine, and has held positions in the US Congress. Marczak has testified on US-Colombia relations in the US Senate.
Luz María de la Mora
Luz María de la Mora is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. She served as Mexico’s undersecretary of foreign trade from 2018 to 2022 in the Secretariat of Economy. Her prior positions in the Mexican government include assistant undersecretary for economic relations and international cooperation in the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and assistant undersecretary for international trade negotiations in the Secretariat of Economy. With extensive diplomatic experience, she represented Mexico to the European Union and the Latin American Integration Association. She has conducted research at the Wilson Center and the Center for US-Mexico Studies and is the author of the book Apertura con Reciprocidad as well as numerous articles on trade policy.
Ana Margarita Reyes
Ana Margarita Reyes has two decades of experience in the logistics and maritime industries. As the former head of Panama’s Logistics Cabinet Secretariat, she integrated a private sector committee and led the National Logistics Strategy 2030. Reyes served as deputy administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority from 2019 to 2022. Previously, she led innovation projects at the Panama Canal Authority. Currently, she advises Georgia Tech’s Logistics Innovation and Research Center, Panama Branch, following roles as president of the transportation committee for the Association of Caribbean States and memberships on various boards, including the Colón Free Zone and MI Bus.
Marcelo Salazar
Marcelo Salazar excels in his multifaceted roles in government and consultancy. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he spearheaded the Dominican Republic’s engagement with SICA and crafted investment plans for overseas embassies. As the Director of Foreign Trade and Treaty Administration at MICM, he managed free trade agreements and advised on international trade matters. Notably, he led negotiations expanding agreements with Panama and received the “Recognition for Excellence as a Public Servant” by ADOEXPO. Currently a partner at Apricus Consulting Group, Marcelo continues to make an impact through his consultancy endeavors.
Jacqueline Foglia Sandoval
Jacqueline Foglia Sandoval is the executive director of Honduras’ National Investment Council, where she leads efforts to promote private investment. Her diverse career spans roles in the Honduran Army, Cargill, Tigo, and consultancies in international business and foreign investment attraction. She helped negotiate the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement and directed external relations at Zamorano University. A graduate of West Point, she earned a Fulbright scholarship for international relations at Johns Hopkins University. She holds a degree in trade policy from Carleton University, an executive MBA from Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, and is a fellow of the Central America Leadership Initiative and Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Leonor Selva
Leonor Selva is the executive director of El Salvador’s National Private Enterprise Association, which represents more than fifty business associations. Her diverse career spans consultancies, the United Nations, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and other roles in government and the private sector. Advocating women’s empowerment and innovation in economic growth, she focuses on policy design, institutional reform, regulatory affairs, and social policies. A Humphrey Fellow, her current focus is nearshoring and semiconductor industry development in the Western hemisphere.
Alberto Trejos
Alberto Trejos is an economist with experience as a faculty member at Northwestern University and INCAE Business School, where he serves as dean and director of the Latin American Center for Competitiveness. Trejos has contributed extensively to journals, focusing on monetary economics, macroeconomics, trade, and development. As Costa Rica’s former minister of foreign trade, he led Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement negotiations, chaired CINDE, and contributed to national pension reform. Trejos co-founded the Brenthurst Foundation, chaired the Arias Foundation, and advised New York University’s School of Global Public Health. He has engaged in disputes at the World Trade Organization and consulted in more than fifty nations. He chairs Cuestamoras Corp and serves on BAC-Credomatic Bank’s governance bodies. Trejos is a senior partner at CEFSA and DRP consulting firms. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Juan Carlos Zapata
Juan Carlos Zapata has more than twenty years of experience in economic and social development. His work emphasizes increasing competitiveness and productivity, as well as seizing nearshoring opportunities through initiatives like Guatemala Moving Forward. Zapata serves on the boards of Invest in Guatemala and Pronacom, collaborating with entities including the Caribbean Council and Sheraton Suites in Key West. Engaged in multiple private-sector working groups, he advises Global Development Advisors and PomonaAgTech. A columnist for the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, Forbes Central America included him in its list of “100 People You Should Know.” Additionally, Zapata contributes to the Atlantic Council’s Central America Task Force.
Coordinators
Supported by
Founding corporate partner
Nearshoring corporate partners
The Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center broadens understanding of regional transformations and delivers constructive, results-oriented solutions to inform how the public and private sectors can advance hemispheric prosperity.