Emerging Markets in a Deglobalized, AI-Infused World

Lourdes Casanova is the Gail and Roberto Cañizares Director of the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets and a Senior Lecturer at Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Formerly of the strategy department at INSEAD, Dr. Casanova specializes in international business with a focus on Latin America and multinationals from emerging markets.

In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Casanova was named one of the 50 most influential Iberoamerican intellectuals by Esglobal. She is a member of the board of directors of Boyce Thompson Institute.

Dr. Casanova is a Fulbright Scholar who holds a Ph.D. from Universidad de Barcelona and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

Geoffrey Lim is Managing Partner of Aeterra Capital Partners. He has over 30 years of private equity and investment banking experience in Hong Kong, Beijing, and New York. Mr. Lim was previously Managing Director at Invesco Private Capital, leading its Asia Pacific private equity strategy, and held senior roles at The Rohatyn Group, CLSA Capital Partners, and Founder Group.

Mr. Lim serves on the Cornell University Council, the Johnson Graduate School of Management Council, and the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets Advisory Board. He holds a B.A. from Hunter College and an MBA from Cornell.

Fred Olayele is a global economist and development finance expert with more than two decades of experience connecting capital, policy, and innovation to enterprise growth in emerging markets and developing economies. A seasoned university professor and innovation strategy leader, his diverse career spans academia, global business, finance, public policy, and economic development.

In his previous role as Chief Economist with the New York government, Professor Olayele helped position New York as a global model for innovation. Prior to that, he advised two Canadian provincial governments on energy policy, foreign direct investment, and economic development. Earlier in his career, Professor Olayele was a global trade finance specialist with Citibank. He is Founder and Chairman of ECANY Capital, a New York-based investment and advisory firm.

Marcos Prado Troyjo is a Distinguished Fellow of the Hoffmann Institute. His career has been multi-faceted, spanning government, business, academia and public discourse on economic development. Marcos is an expert in many fields and possesses a wealth of knowledge about globalization, particularly from the standpoint of developing economies.

For two years, Marcos served as President of the New Development Bank (NDB), where he successfully led the bank’s membership expansion and established both the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Department as well the Independent Evaluation Office. Prior to this, he served as Brazil’s Deputy Minister of the Economy and Special Secretary for Foreign Trade & International Affairs.

Marcos taught international and public affairs at Columbia University-SIPA from 2011 to 2018, where he founded and headed the BRICLab, a forum on Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. An economist and political scientist, he holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of International Relations from the University of São Paulo and pursued postdoctoral studies at Columbia University.

Marcos is a career diplomat, having served as an official of Brazil’s foreign service from 1992 to 2001. Over the years, he has authored several books and has been a guest speaker at world-renowned institutions. Marcos’ numerous opinion pieces, interviews and comments have appeared in top national and international media outlets.

A driven and culturally dynamic leader, Claude Echahamian’s career has taken him to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and lately to North America, where he has used his expertise leading businesses in the semiconductor, telecommunications, and software industries.

After almost four years leading Corning Advanced Optics, where he was charged with transforming the way we think about the global semiconductor and aerospace and defense markets, Claude returned to Corning Optical Communications. He incubates and grows new businesses that will support the customer roadmap in the AI and high-performance computing fields.