Mexican Energy Virtual Conference

Mr. Blum is a senior investment professional in the global energy and power infrastructure team at BlackRock. Previously he was managing director for energy infrastructure at First Reserve, leading investments with key industry partners in Latin America such as Tijoa Hydro, Los Ramones II, Mexican Clean Fuels Infrastructure, and La Bufa Wind. Mr. Blum earned a B.S. from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.

Mr. Castineyra is a lead analyst and associate director with S&P Global Ratings, and part of the Latin America infrastructure team. He also has experience as an analyst and consultant for the IDB and Climate Wedge. Mr. Castineyra has a BA in Actuarial Science from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and a Master’s in Financial Engineering and Risk Management from the University of Essex.

Ms. Covarrubias is responsible for the administration and commercial operation of IEnova´s natural gas assets. Previously, she was the Business and Commercial Manager and also was part of the team that managed Regulatory and External Affairs issues at IEnova. Before IEnova, she was the legislative advisor and account executive in energy matters at Guerra Castellanos & Asociados. Ms. Covarrubias has a degree in International Relations from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and is currently President of the Transport Committee of the Mexican Natural Gas Association.

Mr. Hilfiker is a senior energy analyst, focusing on global gas and power commodity markets. He was a data analyst with Bentek Energy, which was acquired by S&P Global. Mr. Hilfiker has a BA in Economics and a BS in Finance from Colorado State University.

Mr. Martinez has worked for S&P Global Ratings since 2004. Previously he was with the North American Development Bank. He began his career as a credit analyst for the Banco Nacional de México, currently part of Citigroup, working as a credit analyst. Mr. Martinez has a BA in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), and an MBA from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Mr. Pavlovic is a managing director and power market expert with Bravos Energia, located in Mexico. Previously he was Managing Director for electric industry coordination for Mexico’s Secretaria de Energía (SENER). He also held other senior roles related to the transformation of electric power markets with SENER and the CFE. Before that, he was a manager for generation control with Xcel Energy. Mr. Pavlovic has a degree in Economics from Duke University, an MBA from Stanford University, and a master’s in Economics from CIDE.

Mr. Santillan is the country head for SMBC’s office in Mexico. He is the project leader for corporate banking, infrastructure and project financing, trade financing, and agenncy and ECA financing. Previously he held senior positions with Standard Bank and Scotia Capital Mexico. Mr. Santillan has a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) and an MBA from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

Since January 2019, Ms. Somohano has been Director of Energy for Deacero, Mexico’s largest steel wire producer. Previously she was the first female Director in CFE. She was appointed to found, organize, and operate a new entity, as the CEO of CFE Calificados, a qualified power supply company. Under her direction the company became the leader of the qualified energy market, with about 85% of market share. Previously she was head of CFE’s Investment Promotion Office. She also has served as head of SENER’s Hydrocarbon Board Unit, where she was directly involved in the drafting and enacting of the 2013 Energy Reform. Ms. Somohano has a law degree (Hons) from UNAM and a Master’s in Law (LLM) from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Dr. Villarreal is the director for the Energy Cluster of the State of Nuevo León, and a research professor at the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM). Previous experience included founding partner of VGA Smart Development, and Director of the Regional Development Institute at ITESM. He has a degree in Economics from ITESM and a doctorate in Financial Economics from Tulane University, A.B. Freeman School of Business.