ERNESTO ZEDILLO

Former President of Mexico (1994 - 2000); Director of the Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University


  • Member of the board of directors of Procter & Gamble, ALCOA and CITI Group
  • Chairman of the The Rockefeller Foundation Economic Council on Planetary Health at the Oxford Martin School
  • Member of the Commission on Growth and Development, led by Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate
  • Member of The Elders group founded by President Nelson Mandela and the Group of Thirty
  • Emeritus Chairman of the Inter-American Dialogue and Chairman of the Board of the Natural Resources Governance Institute
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Development Program of the Gates Foundation (2007-2011)

Ernesto Zedillo is the Frederick Iseman Director of the Center for the Study of Globalization, and Professor of International Economics and Politics at Yale University since 2002.

Ernesto Zedillo served as Secretary of Education of Mexico (1992 - 1993), Secretary of Economic Programming and the Budget (1988 - 1992), Undersecretary of Budget (1987 - 1988), Deputy Director of the Central Bank of Mexico (1978 - 1987), and Professor of Economics at the National Polytechnic Institute and Colegio de México. In 1994 he ran for the presidency and won, serving his country as President from 1994 to 2000.

He served as Vice-chair of the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security (2012), Chairman of the Global Development Network (2005 - 2011), member of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (2008 - 2010), and as Co-chair of the Commission on Drugs and Democracy (2008 - 2009), along former presidents Cardoso of Brazil and Gaviria of Colombia. He also served as Chair of the Commission on Modernization of the World Bank Group Governance (2008 - 2009), member of the Commission on Growth and Development chaired by Nobel Laureate Michael Spence (2007 - 2008), Chair of the Commission for the Future Course of the International Atomic Energy Agency (2007 - 2008), member of the High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (2007 - 2008), and as member of the governing body of the World Economic Forum from 2002 to 2014, among many others. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the Carolina Foundation of Spain since 2002., and of the group The Elders - founded by Nelson Mandela in 2006, to promote the peaceful settlement of international conflict.

Currently, he serves as President of the Economic Council of the Rockefeller Foundation for planetary health, is President Emeritus Inter-American Dialogue and chairman of the Natural Resources Governance Institute board. He is a member of the G30, as well as The Elders, an organization founded by President Nelson Mandela in 2006 to promote the peaceful resolution of national and international conflicts. He is a member of the Superior Panel of the Electoral Integrity Initiative (convened by Kofi Annan), member of the Group pf Thirty, member of the Board of High Level Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance, of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Also, he is a member of the board of directors of Procter and Gamble, Alcoa, and Citigroup and a member of the international advisory boards of other international companies. Dr. Zedillo edited the books "Global Warming: Looking beyond Kyoto", "The Future of Globalization: Explorations in Light of Recent Turbulence", and wrote for Forbes Magazine for eight years (2001 - 2008). He was elected an international member of the American Philosophical Society in 2011.

He is the recipient of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom from Fear Award, the International Award of Lifetime Achievement by the Cristobal Gabarron Foundation of Spain, the Gold Insigne of the Council of the Americas, the Berkeley Medal -University of California's highest honor-, the Tribuna Americana Award of the Casa de America of Madrid, and the Sustainable Development Leadership Award presented by the Energy Resources Institute in New Delhi, among many others. . Ernesto Zedillo holds a B.A in Economics from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico, a master's degree and Ph.D from Yale University, and is the recipient of honorary degrees from Yale and Harvard Universities, the Universities of Miami and Massachusetts, the University of Ghana, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

  • Leadership

  • Economic Development

  • Sustainable Development

  • Political and Economic Perspectives (Latin America)

  • Globalization and Foreign Policy