Speaker biographies

Luis Carlos Ugalde has been president of the Mexican Federal Electoral Institute since October 2003. Previously, he was a researcher and professor at various academic institutions, including the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, American University, Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Georgetown University, and the Monterrey Higher Studies Technological Institute. Ugalde was chief of staff to the Mexican secretary of energy and chief of staff at Mexico’s embassy to the United States. He is the author of The Mexican Congress: Old Player, New Power (Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2000). Luis Carlos Ugalde received a Ph.D. in Political Science and Master’s degrees in Political Science  and Public Administration from Columbia University.

Robert Pastor is the vice president of international affairs and a professor of international relations at American University (AU). He also serves as director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management as well as the Center for North American Studies at AU. Previously, he was President Carter’s National Security Advisor for Latin America, as well as a consultant to the Departments of State and Defense. He has taught at Emory University and was a fellow and founding director of the Carter Center’s Latin American and Caribbean Program. Pastor has been a foreign policy advisor to each of the Democratic presidential candidates since 1976. He is the vice chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on North America and executive director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. Pastor is the author or editor of sixteen books, including, most recently, Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New (Peterson Institute, 2001).

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