Carolina Velazco is under-director of international and academia relations at Grupo Compartamos, a listed company on the Mexican Stock Exchange focused on offering financial inclusion services to low income sectors.  As of now, Grupo Compartamos has six subsidiaries, three of which are microfinance institutions operating in Guatemala (Compartamos S.A.), Peru (Financiera CREAR), and Mexico (Compartamos Banco).  The Mexican subsidiary is the largest microfinance institution in Latin America.  The other subsidiaries are focused on  a banking correspondent network in Mexico (Yastás), a micro insurance broker in alliance with Grupo CP (Aterna) and a foundation dedicated to support social projects (Fundación Compartamos). Ms. Velazco has been working at Compartamos for 10 years, holding responsibilities in corporate relations, finance, and governance. She has been involved in coordinating the transformation of Compartamos into a bank, and the processes of strategic planning, the bank’s IPO, international expansion, and the creation of Compartamos holding company and investor relations. Ms. Velazco holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), studied Microfinance at the University of Naropa in Boulder, Colorado and took a specialized program in top management at the Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa (IPADE) in Mexico.