Council of the Americas CFO Forums

By-invitation only forums

• March 8: Regional (virtual)
• April 7: Women (virtual)
• May 19: Brazil (virtual)
• June 30: Industry (virtual)
• August 23: Argentina (virtual)
• September 22: Mexico (in-person in Mexico City)
• December 8: Regional (in-person in Miami)

2021 CFO Forums

• CFO Regional Forum, December 2. The discussion held featured two sessions, Session I focused on the regional economic outlook for 2022, while Session II focused on the ESG perspectives for Latin America. The Forum was moderated by Cecilia Tornaghi, Managing Editor, Americas Quarterly. Session I of the forum was led by Claudio Irigoyen, Managing Director, Research Group Head, Bank of America. Session II was led by Gabriel Hasson, Vice President, Head of Latin America Investment Stewardship Group, BlackRock. The forum concluded with a commentary from Jason Fitzgerald, leader of the ESG Working Group at One Stream.
• CFO Women in Finance Forum, October 28. The discussion held among the panelists focused on the importance of diversity in the workplace, the rise of women in CFO positions, and the empowering of women to reach high ranking positions within companies. The Forum was moderated by Liba Saiovici, Global Receivables Product Executive, Bank of America, the panelists featured in this conversation were Jenny Kim Park, Head of Human Resources, Global Transaction Services, Bank of America; Mariana Moraes, Head of Finance, Latin America, Facebook; Marina Rosemberg, Head of Relationship Management, Latin America, Moody’s Investors Service.
• CFO Argentina Forum, September 2. The forum was divided into two sessions, Session I focused on the economic outlook of Argentina, while Session II focused on the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned for CFOs in the current context. The forum was moderated by Martín Fernández Romero, Managing Director and Regional Head, Latin America, and featured Claudio Irigoyen, Managing Director, Research Group Head at Bank of America; Sebastian Rondeau, Director, Senior Research Bank of America, who opened up the first session. The first session was followed by panelists, Juan Urthiage, CFO, Globant; Pablo Vera Pinto, CFO, Vista Oil & Gas.
• CFO Virtual Forum, August 18. This forum focused on the consumer and retail sectors. The forum begins with a conversation between the moderator, Jay Norris, Managing Director, Treasury Sales Manager, Global Transaction Services at Bank of America, and Sean Harapko, EY Americas Supply Chain Transformation and Global Supply Chain RPA Leader on the supply-chain disruptions and the evolving role of the CFO. For the second portion of the forum, Eduardo Rolim, Senior Vice President and Information Security Executive for Global Information Security Latam at Bank of America, shared his analysis on the cybersecurity disruptions and the implications for CFOs, followed by commentary from, Enrique Güijosa, CFO at Liverpool and Guillermo Mazarrasa, Deputy CFO at Vima Foods.
• CFO Forum Brazil, June 22. This forum focused on the impact of digital transformation to the evolving role of the CFO and their teams. The first session of the forum focused on Brazil’s economic outlook and was led by Marcelo Guaranys, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy, Brazil. The second session of the forum focused on digital transformation and the evolving role of the CFO by guest panelists Tiago Azevedo, Finance Director, Brazil, Mercado Livre, and Diego Barreto, CFO & Chief Strategy Officer, iFood. The moderator for this forum was Annali Duarte, Head of GTS Brazil & Head of Digital Transformation Latam, Bank of America.
• CFO Mexico Forum, May 20. This forum focused on the monetary policy and outlook for Mexico and the acceleration of digital transformations and its impact for CFOs. The opening session focused on the economic and monetary outlook led by Irene Espinosa Cantellano, Subgobernadora, Banco de México. A panel followed, focusing on digital transformation, with guest panelists Mauricio Dutra, CFO, SAP Mexico, Fernando Reiter, Director Corporativo de Finanzas, CEMEX, and Constantino Spas, CFO, Coca-Cola FEMSA. The moderator for this forum was Martín Barrios, Managing Director, Global Transaction Services Country Head, Bank of America, México.
• CFO Virtual Forum, April 22. The forum centered around the energy and power sectors. To begin the forum, Francisco Monaldi, Director, Latin America Energy Program & Fellow in Latin American Energy Policy, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, shared his perspective on the challenges and opportunities for Latin America as the industry transitions towards renewable energy. For the second portion of the forum, David Chavez, CFO, Latin America, Marathon Petroleum; Andre Luiz Machado, Vice President Finance, Siemens Energy Brasil Ltda; and Michael Shea, Head of Structured Finance, Atlas Renewable Energy engaged in a dialogue to delve into this transition and its impact on their role and practice. The moderator for this forum was Chris Starling, GTS Large Corp Sales N.A. Industry Lead, Energy & Power, Bank of America.
• CFO Regional Forum, March 11. This forum focused on what can be expected for leaders and companies in a post crisis scenario and how ESG standards are being used to develop company ratings. To begin the forum, Haim Israel, Head of Thematic Investment, Global Research, Bank of America discussed the mega trends for a post-Covid world. For the second portion of the forum, Gabriel Torres, Vice President, Senior Credit Officer, Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign, Moody's Investors Service shared his perspectives surrounding ESG standards for credit ratings. The moderator for this discussion was Moises Vidal, Multinational & Corporate Head of Global Transactional Services at Bank of America.

2020 CFO Forums

• CFO Regional Forum, December 3. The 2020 regional Forum was composed of two sessions. Session I of the forum covered the topic of the global economic outlook, the most relevant forces that are shaping today’s economic outlook while Session II focused on managing the new normal and what opportunities and challenges lied ahead. The discussion was moderated by Maria L. Gallo, Vice President, AS/COA Miami. Leading the first session was Juan Licari, Chief International Economist, Moody’s Analytics. The panelists engaged in the second session led by Margarita Carrillo, Director, GTS Advisory, Global Transaction Services, Bank of America (Host and Moderator), with Bruno Campos, Finance Manager, Aspen Pharma Indústria Farmacêutica Ltda (Brazil), Roberto Manjarrez, Senior Finance Director, Conagra (Mexico), Jerónimo Soffia Errazuriz, Corporate Finance, Molymet (Chile), Monllivelli Bruno De la Torre Gónzalez, Corporate Treasurer, ECOM (Mexico).
• CFO Regional Forum, October 8. This forum focused on some of the economic perspectives for the region and lessons learned from managing finance teams remotely. The first session of the forum concerning the regional economic outlook was led by Mauro Leos, Associate Managing Director for the Americas at Moody’s Investor Services. Following this presentation Eduardo Seput, Director of Finance, Latam, Cisco and Patricia Prospero, People and Communities Director for Latam and Canada at Cisco provided some perspectives and shared lessons learned from managing financial teams remotely. The moderator for this discussion was Martín Barrios, GTS Country Head, Mexico, Bank of America.
• CFO Forum Argentina, August 26. The forum focused on the many challenges that financial teams faced in these critical moments in Argentina. The session was centered around the economic outlook for Argentina. The moderator for this Forum was Federico Muxi, Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group for the Southern Cone. The session was led by Claudio Irigoyen, Head of Economy and Strategy for Fixed and Variable Income for Latin America at BofA Global Research, BofA Securities.
• CFO Mexico, June 25. This CFO forum gathered top finance executives with business or interests in Mexico. A high-level economist provided the country’s economic outlook, followed by a panel of CFOs who discussed the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned in their financial operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Leading the first session on the economic outlook of Mexico was Carlos Capistran, Managing Director and Head of Canada and Mexico Economics, BofA Securities. The second session was led by panelists Mayela Rincón de Velasco, CFO, Bio Pappel, Enrique Güijosa H., CFO, Liverpool, and Sonia Lopez, CFO NOLAD, Arcos Dorados. The forum was moderated by Vidal Garza Cantú, Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Relationships, FEMSA.
• CFO Regional Forum, June 4. The CFO Forum hosted two top-level economists from FitchRatings who provided both a global and regional perspective on the economy, as well as shared insights on rating trends, fiscal issues and government responses in the region during the Covid-19 pandemic. The presentations was followed by a conversation on the various and innovative perspectives to supply chain financing. The first discussion was led by Brian Coulton, Chief Economist, Sovereign Group, Fitch Ratings, who focused on the Global Recession Bottoming Out, But Slow Return to Normality and was followed by speaker Shelly Shetty, Managing Director, Sovereigns, Fitch Ratings, who covered Rising Rating Pressures Amid a Challenging Macro Environment. Following the first session, Fernando de Allende, General Director, Latam, TRADESHIFT and Lionel Asensio, Regional Treasurer, cbc, The Central America Bottling Corporation discussed supply chain financing. Moderating the Forum was Maria Lourdes Gallo, Vice President, AS/COA Miami.
• CFO Brazil Forum, May 14. This forum provided key insights on the economic and financial impact of the Covid-19 virus in Brazil, what companies can do to overcome some of the current issues, and key insights for CFOs as they navigate the crisis and aim to keep their companies afloat. The keynote address was delivered by Mansueto Almeida, Secretary, National Treasury, Brazil, followed by David Beker, Managing Director, Chief Brazil Economist & Fixed Income Strategist and LatAm Equity Strategist, BofA Securities. The forum was moderated by Cecilia Tornaghi, Managing Editor, Americas Quarterly.
• Regional CFO Forum, April 30. The forum focused on the role of CFOs amid the Covid-19 Pandemic: challenges, responses and planning ahead. Leading the discussion was Claudio Irigoyen, Managing Director and Head of Latin America Economics, Equities and Fixed Income & FX Strategy, BofA Global Research and Margarita Carrillo, Director for Global Transaction Services at Bank of America. Moderating this forum was Joaquín Valle del Olmo, Managing Director and Partner, Peru, BCG.
• CFO Mexico City, March 20. This forum focused on the implementations of new payment systems, cybersecurity, and growth amid unexpected change. Gerardo Esquivel, Deputy Governor, Banco de México, joined the forum to provide the Keynote Address. Session I of the forum focused on new payment systems and the potential that they have in the region, which was led by Miguel Angel Diaz Diaz, General Director of Payment Systems and Market Infrastructures, Banco de México. Among the guest speakers for the first session were: Martin Barrios, Managing Director, Global Transaction Services Country Head, Bank of America Mexico; Gonzalo Gallegos, Vice President Finance and IT, Liverpool, and CFO Suburbia; Fernando de Allende, General Manager, Latin America, Tradeshift. Session II focused on how to protect assets from cyber threats which featured speakers, Pablo Corona Fraga, Vice President for Cybersecurity, Mexican Internet Association and Carmina Mogollon Gonzalez, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig. Session III focused on driving growth in uncertain climates with speakers: Francisco de Padua Flores, Global Corporate Treasurer, Cinepolis, and Jose Castro Godard, Corporate Treasurer, Coca-Cola FEMSA, Mexico. The forum also hosted Charles Seville, Senior Director, Co-head Americas Sovereign Ratings, who presented on the credit outlook for Latin America. The CFO Forum was moderated by Jude Webber, Mexico and Central America Correspondent, Financial Times.

“Business Continuity — Yours and Ours”

Bank of America has a reference guide that contains information and links to some of their solutions that will help businesses with remote operations and resources to mitigate fraud and cybersecurity. Also included is information on their business continuity framework.