TEAM

Álvaro González Alorda

CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER

With 6 years of experience in the corporate world and 18 years of consulting, Álvaro has collaborated with more than 100 companies in 40 countries across Europe and the Americas. 

Álvaro is a professor at Headspring [by Financial Times & IE] (London-Madrid) and a visiting professor at INALDE Business School (Colombia), ESE Business School (Chile) and IEEM Business School (Uruguay), among other business schools. He is also a guest part-time Lecturer at IESE Business School (United States).

He has studied at Universidad de Navarra (FCOM’96), IESE Business School (PDD’06), and Harvard Business School (Program: Building Businesses in Emerging Markets ’13). He has carried out a research stay at Harvard Business School (2007).

Álvaro is the author of the management books Los próximos 30 años (Alienta, 2010), The Talking Manager (Alienta, 2011),  Head, Heart and Hands (Aguilar, 2021) and El viaje (Aguilar, 2026). He has published two novels: Riverview (Ediciones B, 2024) and Volver así (Ediciones B, 2024).

Raúl Lagomarsino

CO-FOUNDER AND CONSULTING PARTNER

With more than 20 years of experience in Executive Education and consulting, Raúl specializes in Strategic Talent Management and Innovative Cultures.

Raúl is currently an Associate Professor of People Management at the ESE Business School of Universidad de los Andes. He has been a Professor and Academic Director of the INALDE Business School  (Colombia). He is a Visiting Professor at ISE (Brazil), IEEM (Uruguay), IDE (Ecuador), IPADE  (Mexico), INALDE  (Colombia), PAD  (Peru), IESE  (Spain), and also an international speaker at talent management and innovation events.

Raúl holds a degree in International Relations from Universidad de la República, Uruguay, a Ph.D. from IESE Business School  (Universidad de Navarra), an MBA (Master in Business Administration) from IESE Business School, (Universidad de Navarra) and CPCL from Harvard Business School.

He is a member of boards of directors and the author of numerous publications in management journals and books.

Joaquín Trigueros León

CONSULTING PARTNER

Joaquín is co-founder and co-director of the Instituto de Estudios Empresariales IEE (Costa Rica) which, since 2011, has collaborated with more than 120 companies, national and transnational, in the training of their high potential employees and key performers. He is a professor of Business Communication, Sensemaking, Engagement and Motivation, Strategy and Human Flourishing at IEE.

He coordinated the launch of the IPADE Business School in Costa Rica.

Joaquín is a consultant to companies on issues of people development, institutional communication, strategy, and change.

Earlier in his career, he worked as an engineer in the pharmaceutical sector, international trade (Colón, Panama and Costa Rica Free Trade Zone), and in issues related to data capture and digital indexing. He was also a university professor of Operations Research and Process Design.

Joaquín provides pro-bono mentoring of university students in the final years of their degree for their transition into the workforce. For years, he has accompanied professionals in their professional development through business conversations and mentoring.

He has directed a press office and spearheaded cooperation projects in Nicaragua with European NGOs. For years, he wrote articles on communication that were published in Costa Rica’s leading newspaper and has managed institutional crisis communication situations.

Joaquín holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Autónoma de Centro América (UACA) and an MSc. in Social Communication from the Universidad de Costa Rica. He has also trained at IPADE, participating in AD-2 (Senior Business Management Program), and at the Universidad de la Santa Cruz  (Italy) in Strategic Communication, Institutional Communication and Crisis Communication. He has participated in the Leadership Development Program of the Center for Creative Leadership (Greensboro, NC, USA), various Leadership programs at MIT (Boston, Mass.) and at Harvard-RCC (Boston, Mass.).

Joaquín is the author of the book «Framing the Referendum on the TLC in Costa Rica» (Editorial Académica Española EAE, 2011). He is fond of mountaineering and reading historical novels, great literary works, and management books.

Ernesto Barrera Duque

CONSULTING PARTNER

With extensive experience in the corporate world as a director, advisor, and member of boards of directors, Ernesto has worked for over 15 years as a business consultant across sectors such as consumer goods, textile-apparel, logistics operators, hotel operators, metal-mechanical, furniture, health services, financial, insurance and automotive, among others.

Leveraging his experience in Executive Education and research, Ernesto has incorporated systems and models of innovation, creativity and strategy in companies from various sectors. He has launched several entrepreneurial ventures of his own and also serves as an advisor to entrepreneurs. 

He is currently a professor at INALDE Business School (Colombia) and has been an international visiting professor at HEC Montréal (Canada), IPADE Business School (Mexico), IGEZ Business School (Venezuela), BARNA Business School  (Dominican Republic), IDE Business School (Ecuador). He is also an international speaker on innovation and creativity.

Ernesto holds a PhD in Management from Universidad EAFIT, specializing in organizations and innovation. He was a PhD Visiting Student at HEC Montréal, with a focus on Innovation. He earned his MBA (master’s in business administration) from IESE Business School. He studied at Columbia Business School‘s Marketing Innovation Program, Darden School of Business’s Design Thinking for Innovative Problem Solving Program,  and Harvard Business School‘s GCPCL Program. He studied Law and specialized in International Economics at the Universidad Externado.

He has published business cases that have been awarded at international events, as well as academic articles, books and book chapters on Innovation and Management, among which are: Customer-Centered Organizational Design (ECOE, 2013), A Gold-Plated Manager (Unisabana, 2013, 2nd edition), Responsibility, Ethics and Sustainability (Pearson, 2009) and The Ecosystem Innovation. 

John Almandoz

CONSULTING PARTNER

John has been a professor at IESE Business School since 2011, teaching courses on leadership, human resources and personal leadership. His pre-career experience as a professor and researcher includes a Ph.D. from Harvard Business School in Organizational Behavior and a master’s degree in sociology. He also worked in nonprofit management, banking (Bank of America) and consulting (Milliman, Inc.).

John is a professor at IESE Business School and the academic director of the New York campus and the Program for Leadership Development in New York and Miami, which attracts participants from all over the world. He teaches highly diverse groups, including MBAs, Global Executive MBAs, and senior managers. His research has been published in top journals in his field, such as The Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly on Top Management Teams and boards of directors in the context of banking in the United States. His work has been featured in publications like Harvard Business Review, Forbes, LSE Business Review,  and IESE Insight.

John has studied at IESE Business School (PDG’11), Harvard Business School (PhD‘11 and Master’s in Sociology ’09), Southern Methodist University (MBA’98) and The University of Dallas (undergraduate in Economics ’91).

Juan Carlos Valverde

CONSULTING PARTNER

In organizations, leaders repeatedly face the same challenges when transforming their teams. Incentives are insufficient, motivating colleagues is difficult, and training often falls short of expectations. Meanwhile, the real reasons behind behaviors we seek to change remain elusive.

Juan Carlos has dedicated his life to understanding and providing solutions to this problem. He combines methods of continuous improvement with behavioral science—the science of what we do and how to change it—to unleash the remarkable capacity of individuals and organizations to transform quickly. He has refined this approach over the past 20 years working with large financial institutions in Latin America and Spain. With BBVA, he successfully implemented a project management transformation, helping the company adopt a true Agile approach, enabling more than 100 active projects to achieve quarterly productive deliverables.

At HSBC, Juan Carlos also held various management roles in retail and corporate banking. Among them, overseeing the tactical aspects of the regional transformation program aimed at reducing the risk of financial crime in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. He also led numerous initiatives to transform the distribution of credit products and the management of direct business channels in Mexico. Previously, he was a senior consultant in the financial services and risk management practice with KPMG and PwC, leading transformation projects in Central America and the US.

Juan Carlos pursued higher studies in the United Kingdom, France and Costa Rica. He is currently completing a PhD in Social Psychology at University College London. He also earned an MSc in Behavioral Sciences from the London School of Economics (with Distinction, 2021), an MBA from Manchester Business School  (with Merit, 2004), and pursued advanced studies in innovation at INSEAD (2018), leadership at the University of Texas at Austin (2018), and Management at HEC Paris (2003). He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad de Costa Rica  (2000).

Rolando Roncancio

CONSULTING PARTNER

With over 15 years of experience as an executive, entrepreneur, board member and professor, Rolando specializes in issues of Strategy Execution, Corporate Sustainability and Higher Education. 

He is currently Academic Vice-Rector of the Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia), Professor of Strategy and Corporate Governance at INALDE Business School and member of several Boards of Directors. He is also a visiting professor at BARNA Business School (Dominican Republic), IGEZ Business School (Venezuela) and IPADE Business School and an international speaker on topics such as Corporate Reputation and Sustainability. He has held senior management positions in several companies and institutions in the financial, retail, real estate and education sectors, as well as in the social sector. He has been a founder in companies (Mall Solutions S.A. and Novus Financial Group S.A.) and foundations (Famof Foundation).

Rolando studied Law at Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia, and holds a Ph.D in Governance and Organizational Culture and MGO (Master in Government and Culture of Organizations) from the Universidad de Navarra, Spain. He also holds an MBA (Master in Business Administration) from INALDE Business School and has pursued studies in Philosophy.

Rolando has published academic articles on sustainability, corporate governance and strategy, as well as case studies on these topics (An Uncomfortable Board Member: The Case of Interbolsa Holding, At Five O’Clock: A Seed Born from Scandal, among others). He was awarded the extraordinary prize for his doctoral thesis, “Benefit Corporations: from the primacy of the shareholder to that of the common good,” by the Universidad de Navarra.

Gonzalo Valseca

CONSULTING PARTNER

Gonzalo has more than 20 years of experience in business consulting, leading digital transformation initiatives for global clients —many of them Fortune 500 Companies— primarily in Europe and Latin America.

Throughout his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM Global Business Services, Gonzalo has focused on helping clients innovate and rethink their business models in industries such as banking, insurance, airlines, retail, and utilities. He also held several senior management roles, including serving as the leading partner for business growth in financial services for IBM’s consulting division in Southern Europe. Additionally, he was the Managing Director of Mormedi, Spain’s leading independent customer experience design consultancy.

Gonzalo’s has worked with top international companies across various sectors, including financial services (Santander, BBVA, ITAU, Banorte), insurance companies (Nationale Nederlanden, Mapfre), retailers (Carrefour, El Corte Inglés), transport sector companies (Amadeus, Iberia, AENA, Renfe, Adif), energy companies (Naturgy, Iberdrola), among others.

Gonzalo studied at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid as a Civil Engineer and at the IESE Business School (PDD ’06). He has collaborated with several business schools, such as IE Business School and the School of Industrial Organization, as a professor and tutor of business masters.

Cristina Abecia

CONSULTING PARTNER

With extensive experience in strategic management and people development, she has led the implementation of new work models in organizations for over 15 years. She specializes in strategic consulting in talent and learning, and currently leads various transformation processes with teams in Spain, Italy, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina.

Cristina holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication and a Master’s in Communication Research (MIC) from the Universidad de Navarra, as well as a Chief Learning Officer (Specialization Program in Innovation and Learning Facilitation) from the University of Mondragón & Teamlabs.

An expert in the design of learning experiences, she has collaborated on various projects with the following universities: Tallinn (Estonian Academy of Music And Theatre), Porto (University of Porto) and Milan (School of Management Bocconi University).

She is the co-founder and, until 2018, Talent Manager at Talentum Youth, a platform dedicated to developing young talent through training and challenging experiences.

Catalina Arboleda Giraldo

CONSULTING PARTNER

Catalina has more than 15 years of experience in the integral management of human processes: attraction, selection, organizational design, culture, climate, leadership, well-being, and integral development of talent.

Throughout her career, Catalina has always believed in the power of connecting personal and organizational purpose. That is why she has focused her passion and talent on mobilizing processes that ensure the development of people and their contribution to the transformation of organizations.

She has worked in different business sectors such as cosmetics, fashion, retail and direct sales leading areas of Talent and Organizational Culture and has advised various companies in the management of human processes.

She has been a professor at the School of Engineering of Antioquia and Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in human management issues, putting her professional experience at the service.

Catalina is an engineer from the Universidad de Medellín, a specialist in Project Management from EAFIT and a specialist in Human Development Management from the same university. She also holds a master’s degree in Administration from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, and is certified in Six Sigma methodology and Cultural Transformation Tools by the Barrett Values Centre.

Rafael Zavala Batlle

ASSOCIATE MENTOR

Rafael is the executive director of senior management programs at PAD (Universad de Piura), business advisor and international speaker on leadership and personal transformation. He is also an associate of Huete&Co and a partner of the Instituto de Capital Humano. He has collaborated with more than 250 companies in Latin America and Europe.

Considered by Linkedin as one of the ten most influential voices in Latin America in its Top Voices 2020 ranking. In June 2023 Rafael was included in its worldwide Top Voices Influencer group.

Rafael is also a director of Amrop, an independent director of the ACRES Finance Group and a member of the advisory board of Vinci Highways Peru. He was director of the Association of Shopping Centers, director and member of the steering committee of ABE and of the advisory committee of CADE. He was general manager of Laborum and marketing manager of Jockey Plaza.

Rafael .is a TED Speaker, author of five books, and co-author of two more books. He has written articles for Harvard Deusto Business Review. He has completed the CEO Management Program at the Kellogg School of Management as well as The Board as Strategic Partner, the CEO Leadership Program and other programs focused on management competencies at IESE, Harvard and PAD (University of Piura).

ANDRÉS DUQUE

ASSOCIATE MENTOR

He strives to live each day as a gift, knowing that nothing is guaranteed and that what truly matters is built through hard work. Andrés is a keen observer who values learning along the way while staying focused on what is essential. Family is at the core of his life—he has been married for fifteen years and is a father of five, turning everyday routine into continuous learning and adventure.

Based in Washington, D.C., Andrés has built a career spanning over two decades in strategic communication within the multilateral development ecosystem. He specializes in bridging strategy, narrative, and technology to help organizations communicate with precision, influence with purpose, and turn their value proposition into trust and action.

He holds an MBA and is currently pursuing a PhD in Information and Communication at the University of Zaragoza, focusing on artificial intelligence and strategic communication. He is also an associate mentor at emêrgap.

FRANCISCA MELO

ASSOCIATE MENTOR

With over 18 years of experience working with leaders, teams, and organizations across the education, healthcare, and corporate sectors in Europe and Latin America, she leads and implements transformation, leadership, and team development projects.

She is an associate mentor at emêrgap and co-founder of Athom&co, a strategic consultancy where she accompanies organizations and leaders through transformation processes. Throughout her career, she has focused deeply on human relationships, trust, and the dynamics that enable individuals and teams to learn, collaborate, and evolve.

Passionate about sports, she has served as a field hockey coach and is an avid cyclist—experiences that have enriched her understanding of team dynamics, learning, and adaptability in fast-changing environments.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Andrés Bello University (Chile) and a Master’s degree in Ontological and Team Coaching from Mondragón University (Spain). Additionally, she completed a postgraduate degree in Affectivity at Francisco de Vitoria University (Spain) and conducted a research stay at the School of Education and Psychology at the University of Navarre (Spain).