Luis Guillermo Plata Páez

Luis Guillermo Plata Páez is a Colombian Business Administrator who served as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia from 2007 to 2010 and before as President of Proexport from 2002 to 2007, both during the administration of president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. He is currently a Senior Advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group.[1]

Luis Guillermo Plata Páez
2nd Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia
In office
16 January 2007 – 7 August 2010
PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez
Preceded byJorge Humberto Botero Angulo
Succeeded bySergio Díaz-Granados Guida
President of Proexport
In office
7 August 2002 – 16 January 2007
PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez
Preceded byAngela María Orozco Gómez
Succeeded byMaría Elvira Pombo Holguín
Personal details
BornBogotá, D.C., Colombia
NationalityColombian
Spouse(s)Lyana Latorre (2000-present)
ChildrenGuillermo Plata Latorre
Alma materUniversity of Arizona (BBA)
Harvard Business School (MBA)
ProfessionBusiness Administrator
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Plata and the second or maternal family name is Páez.

Personal life

Luis Guillermo Plata is married to Lyana Latorre and have one son, Guillermo, he is a biking enthusiast and an avid traveller. In 2006 he was selected as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum, he has been nominated for three consecutive times as one of the Top Business Leaders in Colombia, and the Government of Colombia has bestowed upon him the Order of Merit to Democracy, in the grade of Grand Commander, and the Order of St Charles, in the grade of Grand Officer.[2][3][4]

Plata graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Business Administration, and received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Career

Plata began his career in the public service in the early 1990s in the Trade Office of the Embassy of Colombia in Tokyo where he eventually became the Director of Proexport’s commercial office in Tokyo, then took charge of the agency’s office in Taipei, with responsibility also as correspondent for Hong Kong.[5]

In 1999, he moved to Silicon Valley where he Co-founded Simplexis.com, an e-procurement solutions provider for public sector institutions with an initial focus on educational institutions, with former Governor of Tennessee and U.S. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander and three other Harvard Business School MBA graduates.[6] In 2001, Plata returned to Bogotá, where he worked with McKinsey & Company as an associate consultant.

In 2002, after having worked for Álvaro Uribe Vélez's successful campaign during the Colombian presidential election as Executive Director and Legal Representative, the President-elect nominated Plata for the post of President of Proexport,[7][8] a government agency responsible for the definition and execution of the strategy to fuel Colombia’s economic growth through Trade, Tourism and Foreign Direct Investment.[7] After taking office, Plata streamlined the agency by closing and relocating Proexport offices abroad, including the offices the closure of the Tokyo and Taipei offices where he began his career, and putting an emphasis on other to work from the Colombian Embassies to reduce the red tape in trading abroad; A new payment plan was put in place, that changed the pay scheme to link trade growth and investment to employee's salaries to generate productivity.[9]

On October 2006, President Uribe nominated Plata to replace Jorge Humberto Botero Angulo as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.[10] Plata took office on January 16, 2007 vowing to continue pushing for the United States – Colombia Free Trade Agreement.[11] Plata served in this post until Uribe left office on August 7, 2010.

References
  2. "List of Young Global Leaders" (PDF). Davos: World Economic Forum. 2009-01-20. p. 4. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  3. "Presidente Uribe condecoró al Vicepresidente Santos y a los miembros de su gabinete ministerial" [Uribe decorated Vice President Santos and members of his Cabinet] (Press release) (in Spanish). SNE. 2010-08-06. Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  4. "Comisión II del Senado condecora al Canciller y al Ministro de Comercio con la Orden Mérito a la Democracia" [Senate's 2nd Committee Honors Chancellor and Minister of Commerce with the Order of Merit to Democracy] (Press release) (in Spanish). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  5. "Luis Guillermo Plata: Trotamundo a Corazón" [Luis Guillermo Plata: Globetrotter at Heart]. Revista Cromos (in Spanish) (4615): 46–50. 2006-08-16. Lay summary – Proexport (2006-08-17).
  6. "Former Education Secretary Lamar Alexander Launches eCommerce Venture To Save Schools Money" (Press release). San Francisco: PRNewswire. 2001-01-31. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  7. "Profile of Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism". Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  8. "Las Nuevas Caras De La Política De Comercio Exterior" [The New Faces of Foreign Trade Politics]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 2002-06-26. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  9. "Relanzan a Proexport" [Proexport Relaunched]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 2002-09-21. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  10. "Cambio Inminente De Ministro De Comercio" [Imminent Change of Minister of Commerce]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  11. "Luis Guillermo Plata Asumió Como Ministro de Comercio, Industria y Turismo" [Luis Guillermo Plata Took Over as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism] (Press release) (in Spanish). SNE. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2010-08-15.

Selected works
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