BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He obtained his B.A. in Economics at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, and later did gradu-ate studies in economics at Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of Penn-sylvania (EBD).

Mr. Guajardo Villarreal was Chief Economist of the Brazil Section, and Associate Economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund before becoming Director of the North American Free Trade Agreement Affairs Office.

Mr. Guajardo served as undersecretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry (1994-1997); later as Deputy Ministry of Tourist Development (1997); and as Planning, Communica-tion and Liaison Technical Secretary for the Trade and Industrial Development Ministry (1998-1999). At the state level, he was head of the Governor’s Executive Office (2003 – 2006). His latest positions were Federal Congressman for the Second District of Nuevo Leon, Chairman of the Economics Commission, Member of the Treasury and Public Credit Commission, President of the Mexico-U.S.A. Friendship Group and Coordinator of the Entrepreneurial Liaison in the Presidential Campaign of Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto.

On December 1st of 2012, Mr. Guajardo Villarreal was appointed as Secretary of the Economy by the President Enrique Peña Nieto.