100304_ai_064Distinguished Speaker Series

The Honorable Gustavo Arnavat

Dear Members of the Harvard Club of Puerto Rico:
 

Good afternoon!  I am pleased to announce our next Harvard Club event, which will be a cocktail reception that will take place on Thursday, November 10, 2011, at 7-9 pm at The Ritz-Carlton San Juan, Salón La Luna.  We encourage you to join us, as always, and spend an evening among great friends and colleagues!
 

Our distinguished guest for this event will be the Honorable Gustavo Arnavat.   In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated and the Senate unanimously confirmed Mr. Arnavat as the United States Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank.  Mr. Arnavat has over two decades of international legal and banking experience, as detailed in his biography, included below.
    

Mr. Arnavat, a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, will deliver brief remarks on the topic of United States Policy toward Latin America and the Role of the Inter-American Development Bank, and will thereafter engage in a Q & A session on topics of your interest.  He is eager to meet with all of you in what will be his first visit to Puerto Rico in almost 20 years!
 

Spaces are very limited, so we kindly ask that you confirm only if you are committed to attending the event.   You can RSVP by sending an e-mail to lopez@post.harvard.edu confirming your attendance.  We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity and join us on November 10.  Best regards!
 

Un abrazo,

Andrés
 

P.S. Stay tuned for the impending news of our second event of this academic year: our first-ever Harvard-Yale event to watch The Game on November 19, 2011.  Save the date!

Gustavo Arnavat

United States Executive Director

Inter-American Development Bank
 

The Honorable Gustavo Arnavat was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed unanimously by the Senate in November 2009 to represent the United States on the Executive Board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Investment Corporation and on the Donors’ Committee of the Multilateral Investment Fund, both affiliates of the IDB.  As the US Executive Director for the IDB, he is a senior member of the Treasury Department’s International Affairs team.
 

The IDB is the largest source of multilateral funding for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the US is the largest shareholder, with over 30% of the bank’s voting capital.  Since its founding in 1959, the IDB has invested almost $200 billion in the region. The Board of Executive Directors is responsible for day-to-day oversight of the IDB’s Management and operations, such as approving all credits, grants and technical assistance programs, as well as all bank policies and guidelines, including with respect to asset and liability management and capital adequacy.
 

Mr. Arnavat has two decades of international legal and banking experience.  Prior to joining the Obama Administration, he was a Director and Senior Legal Counsel at the Citi Private Bank in New York, where he was Legal Co-Head of the Latin America market region.  At Citi, he managed a wide range of legal, regulatory and policy issues relating to banking, investment management and brokerage services.  He began his legal career with the firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton where he advised US and European banks, as well as Latin American companies and governments, on numerous international capital markets and other financial transactions.  As a an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, he focused on the origination and execution of public offerings and private placements by Latin American issuers, and provided strategic advice relating to M&A transactions and joint ventures.
 

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Arnavat was a Presidential Management Fellow at the White House (National Security Council), the State Department and the Department of Justice. 
 

During the 2008 Presidential election, he was a member of the Obama for America National Leadership Council and advised senior campaign officials on Latin America policy.  Following the election, he served on the Obama-Biden Transition Team in Washington, D.C.    
 

Mr. Arnavat received a B.A., cum laude, from Cornell University, an M.P.P. degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Sloan Fellow, and a J.D. from the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Law, where he was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.  A native of Cuba, Mr. Arnavat grew up in Florida and resides in Washington, DC and New York.