- Claudio González-Vega is known internationally as one of the leading authorities in finance and development and, in particular, for the analysis, promotion and regulation of microfinance.
- González-Vega will replace Manuel Méndez del Río Piovich, who is leaving the chairmanship of the Foundation and of the Board of Trustees.
- Javier M. Flores, general manager of the Foundation since 2010, will take on the executive functions of the chairmanship.
- José Barreiro, former vice-president of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), joins the BBVA Microfinance Foundation as member of the Board of Trustees.
The Costa Rican Claudio González-Vega has been appointed as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation on the proposal of the institution’s Board of Trustees. He succeeds Méndez del Río Piovich, who is leaving the chairmanship of the Foundation and of the Board of Trustees for personal reasons.
Javier M. Flores, general manager of the Foundation since 2010, will take on the executive functions of the chairmanship. Flores has worked in banking for more than 24 years in various positions of responsibility, most recently as chairman of BBVA Puerto Rico.
Méndez del Río Piovich has been the chairman of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation since its creation in May 2007 by the BBVA Group. During this period the Foundation has positioned itself as the benchmark institution in microfinance in Latin America and globally. It currently works for more than 1.6 million people living in poverty or in a situation of vulnerability.
Claudio González-Vega has been a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees since it was established. A professor emeritus at Ohio State University, he is known internationally as one of the leading authorities in finance and development and, in particular, for the analysis, promotion and regulation of microfinance. An economist and lawyer by training, González-Vega holds a master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Economics from Stanford University (California). He was the dean of the School of Economic Sciences at the University of Costa Rica and is one of the founders of Academia de Centroamérica. For three decades he was a professor of Economics and of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics and director of the Rural Finance Program of Ohio State University.
José Barreiro, former vice-president of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) is also joining the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He was responsible for the Wholesale Banking & Asset Management and Corporate & Investment Banking areas at the BBVA Group.
During this period, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation has become the benchmark microfinance group in Latin America, with a top-notch management team and eight market-leading institutions that have been awarded various prizes. Prizes such as the United Nations “Social Investment Pioneers” awarded to the Foundation and the awards received by its various members as the best microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the recognitions in transparency for scope and impact, financial data, risk rating, quality, reliability, satisfaction and compliance, among others.
Moreover, as an institution specializing in development and a transforming agent in the sector, the Foundation has opened the most relevant forums and events with magisterial presentations on microfinance and, particularly, on development, poverty and inequality, corporate governance, risks, regulation and supervision.
Its public report “Desempeño social: Midiendo lo que realmente importa” on the evaluation of the Foundation’s results has been highlighted as an example of best practice for the second year in a row by the “Construir Confianza” report. The publication emphasizes the “Foundation’s exemplary mission, vision and goals” and refers to it “as the only Spanish business foundation that offers information on its impact, understood as the benefits for the population served”. The report has also been selected among “The 10 best initiatives on transparency, accountability and good governance in 2014” by Compromiso Empresarial magazine for driving and developing an impact methodology in the microfinance sector.