Luis Raul Matos

Luis Raúl Matos is currently the Director of the Governance Program for Latin America at the Graduate School of Political Management at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He was a Senior Advisor of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD) - Organization of American States (OAS). Prof. Matos provides guidance and support to several IACD's initiatives, including the Municipal Development Program.

Professor Matos has worked for the Venezuelan Government in positions of high responsibility, including: Minister of Finance; Director of the Central Bank of Venezuela; Director of the Venezuelan Investment Fund; Minister Adviser to the President; elected senator; elected member of the House of Representative of the Venezuelan Congress; Minister of Planning; Director of Planning; and Director of The Council of Science and Technology. He has also been a lecturer of Strategic Planning at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and President of the Foundation "Center for the Study of Latin America - CEREL." Before becoming Director of the Governance Program at GWU he was the Executive Director for Venezuela and Panama at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington D.C.

Profossor Matos holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Miami and a Masters degree in Political Science from Universidad Simón Bolivar in Venezuela. He has also done postgraduate studies in Operational Research at Universidad Central de Venezuela and management courses at the University of Georgia and University of Indiana (IESA). Prof. Matos has authored several publications, particularly in issues related to governance and public affairs. He has developed a methodology (Viaprocess) for the political management of any process of innovation and transformation, and he has the copyright for a strategic game called Powerchess.

Prof. Matos has presented his analytical framework in the area of political management and governance in different countries and universities. Madrid (Universidad de Navarra and Grupo Monforte, Lisboa (ISTEG, Instituto Superior de Gerencia), México (Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey), Ecuador (Universidad Católica Santiago de Guayaquil y Universidad Católica de Quito), Bolivia (Universidad Privada del Valle), Perú (Universidad Católica de Perú), Guatemala (Universidad Rafael Landivar) and Republica Dominicana (CITEG).