Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno's networking skills were on display when he snared a stellar cast to speak at a 2006 meeting launching new initiatives at the development bank.
On hand was one of the wealthiest men in the world, Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, former President Bill Clinton and prominent Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. The meeting launched Moreno's initiative to bring the poor of the Americas into the market economy.
Before taking the helm at the bank in October 2005, Moreno served seven years as Colombian ambassador to Washington. He assumed the bank presidency from Enrique Iglesias, the former foreign minister of Uruguay who headed the bank for 17 years and quadrupled its lending capacity.
Moreno's diplomatic skills have been important as he tries to balance the needs and constraints of the development bank's largest shareholder -- the United States -- with those of its biggest regional borrowers.
''He is not a technician,'' said Nancy Birdsall, a former executive vice president of the IDB ``He is a politician, in the best sense of the word, and a diplomat and those skills are absolutely critical.''
As ambassador, Moreno is credited with helping to win congressional approval for Plan Colombia -- which brought U.S. aid to Colombia's fight against drug traffickers and helped make it the staunchest U.S. ally in the region.
Moreno graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 1975 and also earned a master's degree from Thunderbird University in Arizona.
He worked as executive director of a Colombian news program, was campaign manager for former President Andrés Pastrana, an executive with Westsphere Capital Associates in Colombia and served as minister of economic development.
