The Board of Executive Directors of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) on December 18 approved the appointment of international investment banker and social finance innovator Carl Muñana as General Manager. His key responsibilities include formulating and implementing the institution’s strategy and objectives. He will build on the success of the organization as it continues to address the rapidly evolving challenges and opportunities of small and medium-sized corporations of the Latin American and Caribbean region.
“Carl Muñana is extraordinarily well qualified to head the Inter-American Investment Corporation,” said IDB President and IIC Board Chairman Luis Alberto Moreno. “He combines experience from a distinguished career in emerging markets investment banking with significant achievements in the fields of social entrepreneurship and impact investing. His passion for working in these areas is as evident as his deep knowledge of the needs and development role of SMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
IDB Group President Moreno also expressed appreciation for the work of outgoing General Manager Jacques Rogozinski. “We are deeply grateful for Jacques’ leadership over the past 13 years. He has guided the IIC with great skill and has helped to consolidate its standing as the leading source of financing and advice for SMEs in our region.”
Mr. Muñana began a highly successful career at J.P. Morgan & Co. in 1982, where he served in many positions, including Managing Director and Senior Risk Officer for the firm’s $8 billion Latin America portfolio. He also headed the Mexico investment banking business for five years and capped his career in 1998 with the design of an innovative social investment strategy for the firm.
Later, Mr. Muñana devoted his efforts to impact and innovation initiatives in emerging markets. He worked for several years in Peru in the fields of impact investing, including microfinance, SME fund development, housing finance and social enterprise investment. In the past decade, he has lived in Spain where he has concentrated on the promotion of social entrepreneurship, governance issues and strategic advice to development-oriented organizations globally. He has helped establish and served on several international corporate and not-for-profit boards, including Ashoka’s Spanish affiliate, Voxiva, Inc, and the Microvest Funds.
After graduating in 1978 from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Classics, he served two years in the Peace Corps, where he piloted a community program for rural health and sanitation in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He earned his MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Mr. Muñana’s appointment was the result of an open competitive international selection process, which included review by a high-level advisory group of senior IDB Group officials and external experts with long experience in the financial industry, business in Latin America and the Caribbean and deep understanding of the work of the IDB Group. He assumes his position January 14, 2013, and will be the fourth person to occupy this leadership post since the IIC began operations in 1989.
About the IIC
The Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) is a multilateral investment institution that is part of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group. The IIC’s mission is to promote economic development in its regional developing member countries by fostering the expansion and modernization of private enterprises in a manner complementing the activities of the IDB, with the focus on small and medium-size enterprises. Since inception the IIC and its cofinancing partners have provided over $7.5 billion in financing, in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, forestry, tourism, infrastructure, health, education, technological enhancement.