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Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista is a Mexican politician and current rector of the Universidad de Las Américas. He preseneted “Outside Looking in: International Perspective on U.S. Foreign Policy,” on November 3, 2003, in the Memorial Union Great Hall.

The Honorable Luis Ernesto Derbez
Rector of the Universidad de Las Américas
Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico (2003-2006)
Former Secretary of the Economy (2000-2003)
1980, Economics, Iowa State University

Luis Ernesto Derbez is the former Foreign Minister of Mexico, and is also Mexico’s former Economic Minister. He worked for the World Bank for fourteen years, where he was responsible for the regional areas of Chile, Western and Central Africa, India, Nepal and Bhutan, among others. While with the World Bank he directed, structured, implemented and supervised Multilateral Economic Assistance and Structural Adjustment Programs in Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. He also worked as an independent consultant for the World Bank Mexico City Office and for the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C.

Upon assuming power in December 2000, President Vicente Fox chose him to serve as his Secretary of Economy. In January 2003, following the resignation of Jorge Castañeda, Derbez took over as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a position that he held until President Vicente Fox’s term ended on December 1, 2006.

Since January 2007, Luis Ernesto Derbez has been the General Director of the Centre for Globalization, Competitiveness and Democracy at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe, and Secretary for International Affairs of the PAN. Between January 2003 and December 2006, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico; and between December 2000 and December 2002, he was the Minister of Economy. From July to November 2000, he chaired President-elect Vicente Fox transition team, which defined Mexico’s 2000-2006 economic and social programs.

He has worked on economic recovery programs for Honduras and Nicaragua, after Hurricane Mitch destroyed a substantial part of their territory and economy. He was a professor in the Graduate School of Business Management of ITESM in Monterrey, Nuevo León; a guest professor at Johns Hopkins University School of International Studies; director of the ITESM Econometric Studies Unit and Economics Department in Monterrey; and Academic Vice Rector of the University of the Americas in Cholula, Puebla. He received a doctorate in Economics from Iowa State University. Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science.