CEO
AFS Argentina & Uruguay
AFS student in Australia back in 1991 where he attended to the “De La Salle Cronulla College”. In 1993 he obtained a Junior Achievement scholarship award to represent Argentina in their International Student Forum that was held at Indiana University - USA. In 1998 he graduated from the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE) with a Bachelor in Business Administration. In 1999 he obtained a Master Degree in Finances from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT). In addition, attended several and different seminars related to accounting, auditing, management, marketing, information technology, knowledge management, leadership, strategic thinking and change. He attended to the Executive Development Seminars organized by AFS International and other educational partners (2005, 2007, 2009 and 2014). In 2012 he attended “The Strategic Perspectives in Non Profit Management” organized by Harvard Business School. During and after his university career he worked for major private companies such as: Coopers & Lybrand, Johnson & Johnson and CNP Assurances where he occupied different roles and responsibilities (consulting, finances, marketing, accounting, credit & risk analysis). In 1998 he was appointed as Finance Director for AFS Argentina. In this role two major successes were accomplished by AFS Argentina: a) Build and consolidate the AFS reserves (due to a major improvement in the operations efficiency) and; b) Overcome the most serious economic crisis Argentina suffered in its history without jeopardizing the sustainability, the reserves and more important, the morale of the volunteer force. Between 2001 and 2004 he taught Corporate Finance at “Universidad del Salvador” (Jesuit University) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2003 he was appointed as Executive Director for AFS Argentina. During his tenure, AFS Argentina was able to grow and become the largest Hispanic partner in the network. At the same time, the organization invested in its key strategic drivers: programs, volunteer development, branding and leadership that allowed AFS to become solid and sustainable despite the difficult, challenging, unstable and unpredictable environment. Since 2008, Argentina and Uruguay became part of the same organization as an example where two different cultures can work together under the same structure fulfilling our Mission. The areas of major success are: - Program growth (Back in 2003 AFS Argentina positioned #15 in the ranking of program volume. In 2015 AFS Argentina is #7 among the ten largest partners) - Volunteer development (Growth in terms of number of volunteers. Approx. 450 in 2003, 750 in 2016. Also growth in terms of average life of volunteers. In 2003 the avg. life was 1,5 years serving as AFS volunteers. In 2015 the avg. life was 4 years. Finally, the environment and atmosphere of trust, accountability, transparency developed is a major success) - Marketing and branding (Alliance with Ogilvy & Mathers, Ads for TV, several innovative marketing campaigns) - Fundraising and Institutional Relationships (With no tax incentives laws, in 2003 AFS Argentina did not make any fundraise. Since then, AFS Argentina was able to develop an ambitious long term fundraising plan that explains the reason why in 2015 the amount fundraised surpassed USD 500K. Finally, AFS Argentina was able to develop solid institutional relationships with governments, private companies and NGOs). - Financial Health (During his tenure AFS Argentina was able to consolidate its financial health by doubling the net assets and liquid reserves of the organization) - Innovation and constant improvements (in several areas such as program content, trainings, AGMs, technology, marketing and scholarships). In 2004 he was elected as member of the International Management Council from the small-medium size partners of the network. In the following years he was reelected as member from the ten largest partners (as AFS Argentina grew). Later he was elected as member of the Network Development Committee (NDC). In 2014 he was elected as member of the board of Sentio Inc. (formerly known as Itero). During all these years he also took part of several international strategic groups such as: Tier Review Group, Volunteer Development Group, The New Financial Arrangements Group (two terms), Branding, The Network Strategy group, The Itero Working Group and recently again The New Financial Arrangements Working Group. In Argentina, during his AFS career worked in different capacities in several working groups: Strategic Planning Group (2003, 2008), Finance Working Group (1998), Volunteer Development Working Group (2004), Operations Re-engineering Working Group (2009), Marketing (2009), Volunteer Development (2009), leader and trainer of the First AFS Leadership School (2009-2010) and more recently, leader and trainer of the First AFS Government School (2016). Since 2020, he was also appointed as Executive Director for AFS Brazil. Currently overseeing and strategically coordinating the AFS professional teams in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.