Roberto Smith-Perera is a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n businessman.

Early years and education activity

Roberto Smith-Perera was born in

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; ) is a city in Venezuela. Barquisimeto is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara (state), Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial a ...

in 1958. He attended Colegio La Salle and Instituto Escuela in Caracas. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from '' Universidad Simón Bolívar'' in 1981. He obtained his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in public policy at

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 ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, between 1983 and 1987. Married to Marina Smith since 1983, they have raised three daughters.

Public activity

As a public servant, Smith-Perera was appointed coordinator of the Eight National Development Plan (1989–1990), Minister of Transport and Communications (1990–1992) and Ambassador of Venezuela to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg (1992–1995). His public contributions include the granting of preferential tariffs in the EU for Venezuelan exports, and the opening of the EU market to Orimulsion, getting more than $50 million in grants from the EU, the construction of Line 4 of the Caracas Metro, the opening of telecommunications for private investment, the privatization of the national telephone company, which has created over 40 million new telephone lines since 1991, the creation of the National Council of Telecommunications ( CONATEL) the creation of the Urban Transportation Fund (FONTUR) to promote the modernization of public transport, the restructuring and regionalization of the National Ports System, the construction of two new international airports, the opening of competition in commercial aviation and the "Open Skies" policy at the Andean Community of Nations, the implementation of the National Roads Program and the National Railroad Plan, the foundation of the "National Rural Roads Service" and the National Roads Laboratory ( LANAVIAL). He was chairman of the board and administrativa responsible of several public corporations, including CAMETRO, CANTV, Viasa, Aeropostal, INP, IPOSTEL, INC., CAVN and the State Railway Institute. He was member of the board of the Venezuelan Investment Fund (

FIV Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a lentivirus that affects cats worldwide and 2.5% to 4.4% of felines are infected. FIV was first isolated in 1986, by Niels C. Pedersen and Janet K. Yamamoto at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicin ...

)and C.A. Electrificación del Caroní Fund ( EDELCA). Smith-Perera founded the political party "Venezuela de Primera", which later became "Voluntad Popular", and was a candidate in Vargas's gubernatorial election. Since 2016 he declares himself as an independent.

Academic activity

He has worked in teaching and research at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Center for Development Studies (CENDES) at Universidad Central de Venezuela, and Boston University in Brussels. He received academic scholarships from Harvard University and the National Science and Technology Research Council (CONICIT). He was member of the board at Metropolitan University Foundation, the National Institute of Engineering, and the Simón Bolivar University. He was president of the Student Center and student delegate to the Superior Council of Simon Bolivar University.

Business activity

After finishing his Ph.D. in 1987, Roberto Smith-Perera worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co's energy group between until 1989, in Washington D.C.. After returning from his ambassadorship in Brussels in 1995, he served as CEO of IMPSAT Telecommunications in Caracas and the Sistema Satelital Andino Simón Bolívar. In 1996 he helped found "microjuris.com", an internet legal service for lawyers available in several countries in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Starting in 1997 he helped to establish one of the largest Venezuelan cellular telephone companies, Digitel. He served as its CEO and as member of the board between 1997 and 2004. He also helped found

Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican-based Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 25 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Samoa, St. Lucia, Surinam ...

, a cellular telephone company in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. He is currently dedicated to fund, create and develop new businesses in health, hospitality and tourism in Venezuela.

Works

*"Venezuela, Visión o Caos" (Planeta:1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Roberto 1958 births Living people People from Barquisimeto Harvard Kennedy School alumni Simón Bolívar University (Venezuela) alumni Communications ministers of Venezuela Ambassadors of Venezuela to the European Union Ambassadors of Venezuela to Belgium Ambassadors of Venezuela to Luxembourg Carlos Andrés Pérez ministers