SPEAKERS
Home / Speakers

Fernando Duran
Con un máster en Ciencia en Economía Agrícola, una concentración en Políticas Agrícolas y Comercio Internacional de la Universidad de Florida en Estados Unidos y egresado del XLII Programa de Alta Gerencia del Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (INCAE) de Costa Rica, el economista agrónomo Fernando Durán ha tenido una sobresaliente hoja de éxitos en su trayectoria profesional, desempeñando diversas funciones en la administración pública y privada.
Asimismo, ha recibido formación en la formulación y evaluación de programas y proyectos sociales por medio de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe en Chile, planificación estratégica en la Agencia Alemana de Cooperación Técnica (GTZ) y en sistemas agrícolas en Alemania e Israel.

Gabriela Fernandez
Gerente Ejecutivo a cargo del Area Corporativa de BROU desde el año 2016, responsable de la relación comercial del BROU con empresas de todos los segmentos (micro, pequeñas, medianas y grandes) y de todos los sectores de actividad ( agropecuario, industrial, comercio y servicios)
Experiencia como analista de crédito, ejecutivo de cuentas corporativas y Project finance , así como gerente de equipos comerciales en la misma Institución. Docente universitario hasta el año 2016 de la Universidad Católica de Uruguay y Universidad de la Empresa, en las cátedras de Proyectos de inversión. Integrante del Comité Técnico de CLACE – Congreso Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior de FELABAN, ocupando los cargos de Presidente y Vicepresidente desde 2019 a la fecha.
Contadora Pública egresada de Universidad de la República – UDELAR, Uruguay. Estudios cursados de Diploma en Gestión Bancaria UDELAR ; Programas Internacionales de Project Finance , Riesgo Crediticio, y Competitividad y Clustters ; International Programme for Executives of Financial Institutions ESADE Business Scholl –Madrid ; Pasantía Banca de Desarrollo y Mercado de Capitales ALIDE Lima , entre otros.

Claude Torre
Agroeconomista y funcionario del Ministerio de Agricultura frances, ha trabajado sucesivamente en los Ministerios de Cooperación (1993) y Asuntos Exteriores (1999), y desde 2007 está en la Agencia Francesa para el Desarrollo- la AFD).
Durante este periodo trabajó como cooperante en Níger (3 años), en Guinea (4 años) con la microfinanza, luego como funcionario sobre productos básicos (París 3 años) y como encargado de cooperación en Marruecos (4 años).
Como encargado de proyectos en la AFD, siguió las cuestiones comerciales (París 2 años) y la seguridad alimentaria (Roma 2 años) antes de incorporarse al Departamento de Operaciones en 2011.
Allí instruye y supervisa diversos proyectos de desarrollo rural y financiación agrícola en África, América Latina y el Caribe.

Lucia Saavedra
Subgerente de Negocios Agropecuarios del Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Con 27 años de experiencia dentro de la banca pública, especializada en la atención crediticia al sector agropecuario. Graduada en la Universidad de Buenos Aires – Facultad de Ciencias Económicas en Licenciatura en Administración y Contadora, Curso de Posgrado en Agronegocios – Agroeducación, Programa Ejecutivo de Liderazgo – Universidad Austral, Programa de Desarrollo Directivo – Universidad Austral, medalla de plata en el Consejo Profesional de Ciencias Económicas de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Actualmente Jefe a cargo del Departamento de Negocios Agropecuarios.

H.E DR. Soenh Reth
Dr. Reth SOENG is currently Deputy CEO of the stated-owned Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB). Dr. Soeng is also Advisor to Samdech Techo HUN SEN, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and a member of the Supreme National Economic Council of Cambodia (SNEC), with the rank of Secretary of State. He was the Fulbright scholar-in-residence (Professor of Economics), under the Fulbright Lecturing Program of the U.S Department of State, in Massachusetts, U.S.A, for one academic year 2016-2017. During his Fulbright program, Dr. Soeng was frequent guest professor at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Dr. Soeng has been lead professor of economics at the Royal School of Administration and at Department of International Studies, Royal University of Phnom Penh. Dr. Soeng’s research work was also accepted for presentations at International Conferences in the United States, China, the Philippines, Belgium, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. He gave lectures in economics, applied statistics, and applied econometrics at several other universities in Cambodia where he taught courses in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. Presently, Dr. Soeng is a member of Editorial Board of Journal of Business and Management and has been an international consultant for the Economic Research Institute for East Asia and ASEAN (ERIA) based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Dr. Soeng is also affiliated with the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Antwerp, Belgium. He has been appointed by sub-decree as a reserve member of the Royal Academy of Cambodia.

Norman William S. Kraft
Norman William Santos Kraft is currently the Director for Program Monitoring and Information Systems Management of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC). In that role, he oversees the monitoring and evaluation of ACPC’s credit and capacity-building programs, as well as the monitoring of other government agricultural lending programs. He also sees to the development of various information systems for the improvement of ACPC’s external and internal services, and monitors the satisfaction of clients with ACPC’s services.
Mr. Kraft is a product of the JICA Certificate Program in Rural Development through Agricultural Cooperatives which he completed in 2009 in the Okinawa International Training Center in Japan and has given presentations on Philippine agricultural finance in various conferences. He carries Master in Development Economics and B.S. Economics Degrees from the U.P. School of Economics, as well as Diplomas in Inland Fisheries from the University of the Philippines College of Fisheries; and in Public Management Development from the Development Academy of the Philippines, where he was selected for the scholarship program.

Cecilia Cayosa Borromeo
President and CEO of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK),
CECILIA CAYOSA BORROMEO is the President and CEO of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), the biggest GOCC and the second largest universal bank in the Philippines.
Since 2019, she has led LANDBANK in its expanded role of supporting key industries and movers of the economy; banking the unbanked; delivering assistance to marginalized and vulnerable sectors; working alongside local partners to revitalize communities; and pursuing other initiatives to advance the National Government’s inclusive development agenda.
President Borromeo also holds the distinction of being the first veteran banker to ever hold the presidency of two government banks in the Philippines.

Mr. Thomas T. Essel
Secretary General, AFRACA
Mr. Thomas Thompson Essel is the Secretary General of the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), which is a network of over a hundred financial institutions, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. He has many years of experience in Economic and Development issues.
At AFRACA, he has provided leadership in Collaboration programmes with governments in Africa, Development Partners and Private Sector.
Prior to joining AFRACA, he worked in Bank of Ghana for over twenty-two years, holding different positions, including, Head, “Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending” (GIRSAL), providing strategic and technical guidance to management.
Mr. Essel has considerable experience in policy, research, international relations and rural finance. Mr. Essel holds a Masters’ Degree in Development Studies from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Jesús Alan Elizondo Flores
FIRA
Alan Elizondo graduated in Actuarial Sciences by the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), and Master in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics.
From 1994 to 2001 his professional development took place in the Central Bank where he specialized in Financial Risk Management and the Development Banking Sector.
He was appointment as Chief Financial Officer in FOVI, Banco de Mexico, from 2001 to 2002 and participated in the creation of the National Housing Finance Bank, SHF.
From 2002 to 2007 he was Chief Risk Officer at SHF, and from 2007 to 2008 Chief Credit and Operations Officer within the same institution.
He served as Technical Vice President at the National Banking Securities Commission, from 2008 to 2013 overviewing systemic risk.
As of February 1, 2013, he was appointed General Director of Financial System Issues.
As of July 17, 2019, He is Director General of Trust Funds for Rural Development (FIRA).

Prasun Kumar Das
APRACA
Prasun Kumar Das is currently leading the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (www.apraca.org) as its Secretary General based out of Bangkok, Thailand and working with its 89 member institutions spread over 24 countries in the region. Prior to this assignment he worked for regional grant projects of IFAD and DFID as programme head. Dr. Das worked for FAO as Rural Finance expert and also held senior positions in public sector commercial bank, consultant advisor on rural and agricultural development to various national governments in Asia and Africa. Prasun served as member of international project design/implementation teams of multilateral/bilateral agencies and led number of multi-country donor funded studies, projects etc. to support agricultural development and technical collaborations. Prasun holds a PhD in Agricultural Sciences, MBA in financial management and is a certified professional in banking and finance.

Edgardo Alvarez
SECRETARY GENERAL OF ALIDE
Edgardo Alvarez is currently the Secretary General of the Latin American Association for Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE). Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Graduate School of Business Administration (ESAN), Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the National Engineering University of Peru. Graduated in Advanced Management from the University of Piura: Program for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and in “Advanced Training on Industrial Management” from the Research Institute for Management Science sponsored by Delft University, Holland. With broad experience in corporate management, development banking, investment banking, and commercial banking, former CEO of Banco de Comercio, a commercial bank, CEO of Agrobanco, a public agricultural Bank, acting CEO of COFIDE, the Peruvian development bank, Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) International Consultant and Professor specializing in business management, finance, microfinance, and credit risk evaluation.

Dr. Thach Kao
Agricultural and Rural Development Bank
H.E. Dr. Thach Kao, currently holds the portfolio of the Royal Government Delegate in charge as the C.E.O. of the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), was nominated to be the C.E.O. of the Rural Development Bank (RDB) on July 4th, 2014 then later transformed to be ARDB and to be member of the RDB’s Board on August 7th, 2014. Currently, he is a member of Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC) with the rank to Secretary of State and labor arbitrator of the Arbitration Council since 2003. He sworn in as Lawyer on October 8th, 2012 and adhered to member of Bar Association of Cambodia on October 10th, 2016. Before holding ARDB’s portfolio, he was Deputy Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia with the rank and privilege to Undersecretary of State and the Head of Financial Market Division, Financial Industry Department, Ministry of Economy and Finance. Working in law field, he used to be a legal officer in the Ministry of Justice and also in court. He was one of the key persons working toward the establishment of Securities and Exchange Commission and Cambodia Securities Exchange. Since joining the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 2003, he has undertaken numerous assignments relating to financial sector development in Cambodia. These assignments include member of working groups responsible for drafting Law on Government Securities and Law on Issuance and Trading of Non-government Securities, and member of working group responsible for developing Financial Development Strategy 2006-2915 and 2011-2020. Besides, as a representative of the Ministry of Economy and Finance he has been involved in various ASEAN working groups in relation to capital market development such ABMI, ACMF, and Financial Services Liberalization.
He holds Bachelor of Law (LLB-Faculty of Law and Economics) in 1998 and Master of Laws from Bond University (Australia) in 2002, with an emphasis of International Trade Law System, WTO Legal Framework, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Dispute System Design and on May 11th, 2019 he graduated Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) from EU Business School. His thesis is on “The Rural Development Bank’s Transformation: The Case of Cambodia”. On December 30th, 2021 he graduated Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy from the University of Cambodia. His dissertation on “The role of Securities regulators in Efficient Supervision and Regulations of the Securities Market in Cambodia”.
Concerning the publications, in August 2022, his research paper: “Does the Role of Securities Regulators Matter for The Development of Securities Market in Cambodia? An Exploratory Study” was published by Centre for ASEAN Studies (CAS)–Centre for International Management and Development Antwerp (CIMDA), in Belgium and in 2002, his book on “Dispute Settlement System of the World Trade Organization and Theories and Principle of Dispute System Design” was published by UTPP Press in Cambodia.

Jocelyn Alma R. Badiola
Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC)
An Economics graduate (Cum Laude) from Ateneo de Naga University and has a degree in M.A. Economics from UP Diliman. She rose from the ranks; one of the pioneers of Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) since it was created in 1986. She started as staff researcher and was appointed Executive Director of ACPC in 2016. She was briefly seconded at the Senate of the Philippines as Executive Director of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries (COCAFM) from 2010-2013. She has more than 30 years of experience in rural development work particularly on rural finance for small farmers and fisherfolk focusing on policy research and program development. She has written several research papers and has served as resource person in local as well as international conferences. She was recently appointed as one of the newest members of the Consultative Committee of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The CFC is an autonomous intergovernmental financial institution established within the framework of the United Nations. Finally, she is a proud mother of a newlyminted doctor.

Wichai Paksa
Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives(BAAC)
Is an Assistant Senior Vice President with nineteen years of experience working for Agriculture finance and rural development of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives(BAAC). At BAAC, he was responsible for various tasks and projects, pioneering agricultural value chain financing for small farmers, Small and Medium Agri-Enterprise financing, green financing, sustainable development, community tourism, and community development. With a background in Agricultural and Resource Economics and experience in fieldwork with rural farmers in Thailand, He contributed and collaborated with various organizations led to multi-level advice and planning for rural farmer financing and development.”

Nguyen Tuyet Duong
Vietnam Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development
Member of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. She has obtained the Master degree in law at Moscow State University (Russia) MGU. She has 27 years of experience in banking: Deputy General Director of Legal Department of the State Bank of Vietnam; Member of Agribank Board of Directors