For the first time, CABEI Board of Governors elects a woman as Executive President

Tegucigalpa, November 17, 2023.- In compliance with a previously defined schedule and strictly following current regulations, the CABEI Board of Governors, after an exhaustive and transparent contest process conducted by the Board of Directors, has elected Ms. Ana Guissella Sánchez Maroto, of Costa Rican nationality, as the new Executive President of the Institution for the next five years. This decision was made today at an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors.

Ana Guissella Sánchez Maroto, Industrial Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, has stood out professionally for more than 20 years in positions such as Regional Director of Strategy for BAC, Regional Director of Corporate Relations of Florida Ice & Farm Company, President and CEO of Endeavor Global, with extensive experience in executive and management positions in economic, financial, banking, and development policy matters.

The new Executive President will form a team with Mr. Jaime Roberto Díaz Palacios, Guatemalan, who serves as the Executive Vice President of the Bank. This election occurs at a transcendental moment for the Bank, in which its members seek to ensure new leadership that enriches the Institution's purpose as an entity that promotes the integration and balanced economic and social development of the region.

This new team of the Bank's Senior Administration will be in charge, together with the Board of Directors and the Board of Governors, of implementing a profound reform process that seeks to return to the Bank's path in terms of leadership, efficiency, and effectiveness in the development of the region. With these reforms, the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors intend to strengthen governance, improve financial management, reorient credit policy, and improve administrative performance.

The new administration, led by Mrs. Sánchez, represents an opportunity to strengthen confidence, the sustainable use of resources to increase the impact on development, the strengthening of the Bank's capital through a financial framework that harmonizes short-, medium-, and long-term objectives, a culture of accountability, results-based management, a new communication strategy with closeness to the beneficiaries, and access to information.

As previously announced, the candidate selection process was carried out by the renowned and prestigious firm of Heidrick & Struggles, New York office, which led the search for the ideal professional to hold this office that is so relevant to the development of the region. In this process, a total of 243 applications for the position were evaluated, with the firm presenting a final list of six candidates for the Bank's Board of Directors, which was evaluated thoroughly and diligently, leading to the election of the shortlist of candidates presented to the Board of Governors, the body that, in accordance with current regulations, elected the new Executive President.