An Update on Latin America – Virtual Program
July 14th, 2020 12:00PM -1:00PM
This is a virtual program, instructions on how to join this meeting will be sent the day before the event.
The political, economic, and social challenges facing countries in Latin America threaten to be compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the region now a pandemic hotspot, a health crisis has been added to the mix. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the region’s GDP will shrink by 9.4 percent in 2020. As tens of millions of people risk sliding into extreme poverty and weakened democracies are threatened by populism, corruption, or both, what does the future look like for Latin America? Join the World Affairs Council for a discussion with Ambassador Donna Hrinak and Michael Camilleri for an update on Latin America.
About the Speakers
Donna Hrinak was appointed president of Boeing Brazil in October 2011 and president of Boeing Latin America in November 2014. In November 2019, Hrinak’s leadership role expanded to include president of Boeing Canada. She reports to Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing International.
Hrinak is responsible for the development and implementation of the Boeing strategy in Latin America, Caribbean and Canada. She leads companywide activities including government affairs, identifying new and emerging business opportunities, leading corporate citizenship programs and enhancing company relationships with customers and other stakeholder groups.
Prior to this appointment, Hrinak was vice president of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs for PepsiCo, Inc. She joined PepsiCo in 2008 from Kraft Foods, where she was corporate affairs director for Latin America and the European Union.
Before entering the private sector, Hrinak was a career officer in the U.S. Foreign Service. She has served as U.S. ambassador to Brazil (2002–04), Venezuela (2000–02), Bolivia (1998–2000) and the Dominican Republic (1994–1997) and as deputy assistant secretary of state for Mexico and the Caribbean. She has also worked at the U.S. missions in Mexico City; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Bogotá, Colombia; Warsaw, Poland; and São Paulo, Brazil.
Hrinak serves on the boards of Inter-American Dialogue and Adtalem Global Education. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and of the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT). She writes and speaks frequently on foreign policy and gender issues.
Hrinak’s awards include the Order of the Barão do Rio Branco from the government of Brazil, and the Order of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella from the government of the Dominican Republic. She also received the Career Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of State and the Distinguished Public Servant Award from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Hrinak is a graduate of Michigan State University, from which she was also awarded an honorary doctorate of Humanities. She also attended The George Washington University and the University of Notre Dame School of Law.
Michael Camilleri is Director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. An international lawyer and former diplomat, he served in the Obama administration from 2012 to 2017 as the Western Hemisphere adviser on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and as Director for Andean Affairs at the National Security Council.
Prior to joining the U.S. government, Michael was a human rights specialist at the Organization of American States and a senior staff attorney at the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). He also worked with a coalition of civil society organizations in Guatemala and at a large international law firm.
Michael’s commentary and analysis on legal and policy issues in the Americas have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Americas Quarterly, BBC, Fox News, Univision, NTN24, and CNN en Español. Michael is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he has been an adjunct professor of law and international affairs at the George Washington University, American University, and the University of Baltimore. He holds a B.A. in history from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
This event is sponsored by the Port of Seattle
