Luis Alberto Moreno Mejía (born 3 May 1953) is a Colombian businessman and former diplomat who served as President of the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

(IADB) from 2005 to 2020. He was also Colombia's Ambassador to the United States under President

Andrés Pastrana Arango Andrés Pastrana Arango (born 17 August 1954) is a Colombian politician who was the 30th President of Colombia from 1998 to 2002, following in the footsteps of his father, Misael Pastrana Borrero, who was president from 1970 to 1974. Early ...

from 1998 to 2005, and is the former President of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

(WEF) since 2011.

Early life and education

Moreno was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to his Colombian father, Bernardo Moreno Mejía (1928–2013), who at the time was attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and his mother, Marta Mejía Pradilla. He was raised in Bogota, where he studied at Colegio San Carlos and returned to the United States to attend college. He obtained bachelor's degrees in Business Administration and Economics from

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The university is a member of the State University System of Florida and has s ...

in 1975 and an MBA from the

Thunderbird School of Global Management The Thunderbird School of Global Management (or simply Thunderbird) is a global leadership, management, and business school at Arizona State University, a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It was founded in 1946 as an i ...

(now part of

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

) in 1977.

Career

Early career

Moreno was Executive Producer of "TV Hoy", an award-winning news program, from January 1982 to September 1990. For his distinguished work in the field of journalism, he was awarded a

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Fellowship is a fellowship from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. It awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Government

During the administration of Colombian President

César Gaviria César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo ( ; born 31 March 1947) is a Colombian economist and politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 to 2004 and National D ...

, Moreno worked in several cabinet positions. Moreno was the President of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial (IFI) which was a holding company for many of the largest state-owned enterprises. While at IFI, he pushed for a large privatization plan in the country. He was later appointed Minister of Economic Development. In 1998, Moreno was named Colombia's Ambassador to the United States by newly elected president

. He was the ambassador for seven years and oversaw a dramatic improvement in Colombian-U.S. relations. He helped build bipartisan support in the United States Congress for passage of more than US$4 billion in U.S. assistance programs for Colombia. He also worked on a free trade accord between Colombia and the United States.

Inter-American Development Bank

In 2005, Moreno was nominated for president of the IDB by the administration of President

Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia. H ...

. He took office in October that same year. He was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2015. Milestones during Moreno's tenure include: the approval in 2007 of $4.4 billion in debt relief for Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua, the most heavily indebted member countries; the approval in 2010 of the Ninth General Capital Increase, the largest expansion of resources in the Bank’s history; the merging and expansion in 2016 of the Group’s private-sector operations under IDB Invest; the replenishment in 2017 of IDB Lab with historic contributions from Latin American and Caribbean countries; the launch in 2019 of a special grant facility to help countries integrate migrants into local communities and contribute to their development; and the institution-wide response in 2020 to the coronavirus pandemic.

Later career

In early 2021, Moreno was appointed by the

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

to the High Level Independent Panel (HLIP) on financing the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response, co-chaired by

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. She is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as d ...

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been the current and ninth President of Singapore since 2023. Prior to his presidency, Tharman served as Senior Minister of Singapore between ...

and

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as the director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as presiden ...

Other activities

Center for Global Development The Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London that focuses on international development. History It was founded in November 2001 by former senior U.S. official Edward W. Scott, directo ...

(CGD), Member of the Board of Directors * Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Member of the Board of Directors * End Malaria Council, Member (since 2017) *

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC), Member (since 2015) *

(WEF), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2011)

Recognition

In 2017, Moreno received the Distinguished Leadership Award for Social Equity from the

Inter-American Dialogue The Inter-American Dialogue (Spanish and Portuguese: ''Diálogo Interamericano''), also known as the Dialogue or IAD, is a U.S.-based think tank in the field of international affairs primarily related to the Western Hemisphere. Headquartered in ...

Personal life

Moreno is married to María Gabriela Sigala, a Venezuelan philanthropist, ex-wife of Henrique Salas Feo. He has two children from his first marriage: Nicolas and Natalia. His younger brother, Bernie Moreno, is an American politician who has served in

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

since 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno, Luis Alberto 1953 births Living people Politicians from Philadelphia Florida Atlantic University alumni Nieman Fellows Colombian businesspeople Colombian journalists Colombian male journalists Ministers of economic development of Colombia Ambassadors of Colombia to the United States Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Presidents of the Inter-American Development Bank Thunderbird School of Global Management alumni Former United States citizens International Olympic Committee members 21st-century Colombian businesspeople