He graduated from Saint Louis University with a BS degree in Economics and Political Science.

He has been Executive President and CEO of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (26 years) from December 1991 to April 2017.

Until 1989 and for seventeen years he worked for the Inter-American Development Bank where he reached the position of Treasurer of the Institution.

He has taught economics at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés and the Universidad Católica, both based in Bolivia and is currently Visiting Professor in practice at the London School of Economics and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Sao Paulo and Normal University in Beijing.

He has been awarded high degree decorations by the Governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay, Spain, and the Sovereign Order of Malta as well as by several legislative bodies and international media and international organizations.