Gabriel Espana is a seasoned business leader with over three decades of extensive experience in emerging markets investing and project finance, covering infrastructure & renewable energy, industrials, health & education, financial services, agribusiness and tourism, services & real estate sectors. During his career, he has worked on projects covering over 50 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Europe. He joined Iskali Capital Group (ICG) as Managing Director & CEO in January 2020 and is currently based in Washington DC. ICG is an Investment Banking Platform that supports investment opportunities in Emerging Markets, providing Development Banking Services to companies and projects to deliver both, strong risk-adjusted returns and positive social impact in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Iskali Capital Group investment and advisory services focuses on infrastructure, agribusiness, healthcare, real estate, education and access to finance. Additionally, Gabriel is President for the Americas of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes, IAFEI.
Prior to joining ICG, he spent over 20 years at International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment and financing arm of the World Bank Group. During his tenure at IFC, he has held several leadership positions, developing and managing a USD 3.7 billion portfolio of new transactions in emerging countries. During his early career, he held senior positions in Investment Banking at Rothschild and Citibank. Gabriel is Civil Engineer from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), graduated with the highest national awards, he earned his MBA from IPADE Business School, Mexico City, Mexico. Gabriel has professional studies on management and finance from INSEAD, the Columbia University Business School, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), the Aspen Institute (member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network) and is also a Board Member of the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF).