Alex Silva, OMTRIX Principal Partner, President and Founder

Alex Silva has more than 25 years of experience in international finance with expertise in the areas of evaluation of financial intermediaries, financial engineering, strategic planning and corporate finance. He has knowledge of the Latin American and Caribbean financial markets and maintains regular contact with several bi/multilateral institutions in the region. In addition, he has high-level contacts within the Latin American business community as well as financial institutions. Mr. Silva is manager of Antares Fund, a for-profit equity participation fund aiming to develop a secondary market for shares of microfinance institutions (MFIs), financial institutions specializing in servicing small and micro entrepreneurs. He is also Executive Director of Calmeadow and representative of this Canadian NGO in the Board of Africap, a fund specialized in providing equity and long-term funding to African MFIs. Prior to establishing Omtrix, Mr. Silva worked for the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), a multilateral financial institution, as head of its Central American office. He was executive director of ProFund Internacional, where he was responsible for the management of a regional investment fund specializing in equity investments in MFIs in Latin America and the Caribbean. He has been a board member of numerous MFIs in countries such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

Juan Carlos Pereira, Partner of Omtrix and Manager of Emergency Liquidity Facility (ELF) and the Risk Management Facility (RMF)

Juan Carlos Pereira has a degree in economics from the University of Costa Rica and an MBA from George Washington University with a concentration in international business and finance. He has over 20 years of experience in the administration and analysis of investments in businesses and financial intermediaries, as well as in project and corporate finance. During his 11 years with the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), he structured project finance and corporate lending transactions, as well as transactions with commercial banks and investment funds, in Central America, Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. During 2002-2003 he was IIC's Regional Coordinator for the structuring of projects in the Andean countries. With Omtrix since 2004, Mr. Pereira was the operational manager of ProFund and is now partner of Omtrix, Inc, and manager of the Emergency Liquidity Facility (ELF), an innovative fund for short-term loans to microfinance institutions in liquidity distress due to natural events or local crises, as well as for the Risk Management Facility (RMF), a fund aimed at providing technical assistance to MFIs in managing financial risks. He has also been a board member of Corporations, Banks, and MFIs in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.

Lorna Li has 15 years of experience in investment portfolio management as well as project and corporate finance. As an Investment Officer for E+Co, she was in charge of analysis, identification, and supervision of economically, socially, and environmentally acceptable energy enterprises throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition, she has managed investment portfolios in sectors ranging from tourism to hydroelectricity. As a corporate finance executive, she participated in investment-banking and merchant-banking operations. As an investment officer with Omtrix, Ms. Li identifies potential investments, as well as conducts financial, technical and operational follow-ups of investments mostly for ELF. She has served as a board member of MFIs in Venezuela and Ecuador.

Georgina Vázquez has over 14 years of experience in corporate finance, with expertise in financial appraisals, analysis and modeling. Before joining the Omtrix team in 2005, she provided independent financial consulting services to various organizations, including BN Fondos de Inversión, Banco Interfin and the Emergency Liquidity Facility. Ms. Vázquez worked as a Corporate Finance Consultant at Andersen Consulting Costa Rica where she was responsible for performing financial structuring and structuring, feasibility studies, among others, as well as providing support to the auditing area. As an investment officer with Omtrix, Ms. Vázquez is responsible for financial, technical and operational follow-ups for Antares Fund and the Short Term Liquidity Facility, as well as providing support for Calmeadow’s operations.

Brian Busch, Investment Officer

Mr. Busch has diverse microfinance experience, ranging from financial analysis of MFIs to policy research at the industry level to working with an individual institution in Bolivia as a consultant. Mr. Busch joined Omtrix in early 2007 and coordinates two risk management technical assistance facilities, the Risk Management Facility (RMF) and the Caribbean Technical Support Facility (CTSF).  In addition, he provides credit risk monitoring and financial analysis for ELF and support for Calmeadow’s activities, including co-authoring the recent Aligning Interests paper. Prior to joining Omtrix, Mr. Busch worked in the Policy and Research department of Accion International where he co-authored an industry study for the Council of Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF), provided supporting research for the MicroRate publication “Role Reversal,” and coordinated CMEF meetings and other research. Prior to working with Accion Mr. Busch worked with a US based venture capital fund manager; Mr. Busch graduated from Boston College in 2006 with a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Philosophy.

Cynthia León, Projects Officer

Cynthia León has over 10 years of experience in investments management, as well as project financing. Early in her career, Mrs. León worked as a Stockbroker's Assistant in the former Banco del Comercio. During 1998-2001, she had the opportunity to work with the Central American Bank for Economic integration (CABEI) in the FUTURA 3000 Project, with the goal of launching a ‘smart’ debit card in Latin America. Before joining the Omtrix team in 2008, Mrs. León worked for 8 years with E+Co. as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, she was in charge of monitoring the social, economic and environmental impacts of the institution’ portfolio in Latin America, Then, as an Investment Officer, she was in charge of the identification, analysis, preparation, execution and project supervision of renewable energy projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a Projects Officer, with Omtrix, Ms. León is in charge of the collection of a portfolio of borrowers of the Social Entrepreneurship Program PES/MIF/IADB

Ligia Castro, Microfinance and Risk Specialist

Ligia Castro, an External Consultant, has over 25 years of professional experience in the economic and financial fields, with areas of concentration in regulation of financial intermediaries, risk analysis and microfinance. In serving Omtrix as an external consultant, Ms. Castro prepares diagnostics of risk areas in prevention and emergency response for MFIs affiliated with ELF, develops integral risk management plans for each institution and provides assistance in testing implementation of risk management plans and ensuring plans are kept current. She has provided consulting services for numerous other organizations, including the UK’s Department for International Development, the Multilateral Investment Fund, World Bank, North-South Institute and Ministry of Treasury and Public Credit of Nicaragua.