Cate Ambrose, President and Executive Director

Cate Ambrose is President and Executive Director of the Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (LAVCA), a non-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting the growth of the private equity and venture capital industry in Latin America and the Caribbean. She speaks and writes regularly on a range of topics related to public policy and private investment in Latin America, and is a regular commentator on CNN En Español. Cate is also a special advisor to the board of AMEXCAP, the Mexican Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Prior to joining LAVCA, Cate was Chief of Advocacy for the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, a United Nations initiative co-chaired by Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, where she directed research projects on business regulation and property rights in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, India, Kenya and Tanzania.

Until 2005, Cate was Executive Director of Programs at The Economist, where she founded The Global Agenda, a high-level panel of economists, policymakers and business leaders, and chaired conferences on finance, business strategy and public policy in the US and Latin America. These included annual roundtables with the Presidents of Mexico and Colombia.

Cate began her career as a journalist in Spain. She holds an MPA in International Economic Policy from Columbia University, and received her BA in Latin American studies from St Lawrence University and the University of Madrid.

Ariel Muslera, Regional Advisor

Ariel Muslera joined LAVCA in November 2008 to lead the creation of innovative research products and services for LAVCA’s network of Private Equity and Venture Capital fund managers in Latin America. In October 2009, he moved to Buenos Aires to open LAVCA’s first regional office. He is also Advisor to ARCAP, the Argentine PE/VC Industry Association. In March 2011, Ariel moved to an advisory role at LAVCA to take on a full time position as Venture Partner at the Venture Capital firm CAP Ventures, where he leads technology-related investments with focus on Internet & Web 2.0, New and Digital Media, Mobile Apps and SaaS companies, among others.

Prior to LAVCA, Ariel was a lead Partner at NetStrategies, a US-based boutique advisory firm where he co-led capital raising and strategy engagements for multiple technology start-up companies in the New Media industry. Before NetStrategies, Ariel was a Manager within the Financial Services Strategy and Transformation Group of Capgemini, a leading global consulting firm.

Ariel holds an MBA with Honors from Columbia Business School and has lived and worked in New York, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.

Fabiana Cid de Andrade, Director of Business Development and Strategy

Fabiana Cid de Andrade is LAVCA’s Director of Business Development and Strategy. In this capacity she leads business initiatives, new product launches and shapes LAVCA’s organizational strategy.

Prior to joining LAVCA, Fabiana was Head of Latin America Regional Distribution at ING Investment Management, where she led the firm’s commercial efforts in the Region, which included offshore mutual funds and private equity fundraising. In addition, she oversaw the distribution of Latin America-based investment strategies to global markets. She joined ING in 2003 as a Global Management Program Trainee and has held multiple strategy, business development and distribution roles for ING in Canada, UK, and the US. Fabiana began her career as product manager for American Express Latin America and ABN Amro/Real in Brazil.

Fabiana holds an MBA in International Business from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BA in Marketing from Mackenzie University in Sao Paulo. She has also completed the Private Equity and Venture Capital Program at Harvard Business School and earned a post-graduate degree in International Business from FAAP in Sao Paulo.

Juan Savino, Director of Research

Juan Savino joined LAVCA as Director of Research to guide the expansion of LAVCA’s research products for its members and the Latin America PE/VC community.

Prior to joining LAVCA, Juan was Capital Structure Analyst at Bloomberg LP in London, the leading global provider of financial data, news and analytics, where he performed in depth analysis of the companies’ corporate and capital structure. Before Bloomberg, Juan was Strategy Analyst at the Argentina’s National Investment Development Agency, where he participated in the design of research analysis to encourage foreign direct investments in Argentina. During that period, he also was an assistant teacher in the subject of  Corporate Finance at Universidad de San Andres. Juan also has experience in the venture capital industry, where he was an Associate at Aconcagua Ventures, a Venture Capital Fund acquiring minority position in high-growth potential Latin American small and medium enterprises.

Juan holds a MSc in Finance from Universidad del CEMA and a BS in Business Administration from Universidad de San Andres. He is fluent in Spanish, English and Italian.

Lindsay Walsh, Associate Director of Programs

Lindsay Walsh is the Associate Director of Programs, responsible for a variety of activities across the organization, including LAVCA’s three major industry conferences.

Prior to joining LAVCA, she worked for a variety of non-profit organizations both in the United States and abroad. In her capacity with these groups, she executed a market assessment for an import-export company, expanded the international funding capability for an Argentinean arts organization, and designed and managed a foreign affairs summer program for high school students. She has lived in Mexico and Argentina, and has traveled extensively in Latin America.

Lindsay graduated with honors from Wesleyan University with degrees in Latin American Studies and Music. She is fluent in Spanish and is currently studying Portuguese.

Claudia Piza, Senior Research Associate

Claudia Piza joined LAVCA to support all of LAVCA’s research efforts and products.

Prior to joining LAVCA, Claudia worked with Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ, a leading global provider of multi-asset class, real-time financial data, where she performed in-depth private equity and venture capital research for Latin America, with a special focus on Brazil. In this capacity she established the company’s private equity and venture capital database for Latin America. Prior to S&P Capital IQ, Claudia worked with the Costa Rican Embassy in London. She is Costa Rican and has also lived in São Paulo and Buenos Aires.

Claudia holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Universidad de San Andrés. While at San Andrés, she spent a semester in Barcelona studying at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Alex Henao, Manager of Finance and Administration

Alex Henao is responsible for managing LAVCA’s financial and administrative functions. He also supports LAVCA’s staff across a range of other activities, including member relations and special projects.

Alex is currently an MBA candidate in the Investment Management program at the Lubin School of Business in Pace University in New York. He graduated from the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences at Pace University with a degree in History. His professional background includes experience working for publishing and asset management firms.

He speaks English and Spanish and is studying Portuguese.