Governor Perdue Announces Second Annual Sumaq Summit

Business, Academic and Government Leaders Discuss Economic Opportunities in Latin America

ATLANTA, GA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that Atlanta will host more than 400 senior executives, government officials and academics May 4-5, 2005, for Sumaq Summit 2005: International Business Strategies in Latin America. The executive conference, presented by the Sumaq Alliance of international business schools, is designed to provide senior executives with insight into conducting business in Latin America.

“We are delighted to welcome the business, government and academic leaders from the United States, Spain and Latin America joining us to discuss economic strategies among the regions, including Georgia as a center for free trade with the Americas,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “Sumaq’s return to Atlanta reflects Georgia’s position as a cornerstone of economic activity within the western hemisphere.”

Launched last year, the Sumaq Summit represented the first time that non-U.S. business schools had organized an event of such magnitude in the U.S. marketplace, attracting over 300 participants, 40 top-level international experts on executive education and 35 leading speakers from both corporate and political sectors.

The Sumaq Summit 2005 conference participants, lecturers and distinguished speakers will introduce the latest management techniques, business issues, and strategies for investing and operating in the nearly $3 trillion dollar Latin American market. Attendees will include executives from Booz Allen Hamilton, Procter & Gamble and Grupo Bimbo, as well as:

• José María Álvarez-Pallete, Executive President, Telefónica Latin America
• María de Lourdes Dieck, Undersecretary for Economic and International Cooperation, Mexico
• Andrés Gluski, Senior Vice President, AES Corporation, President, Electricidad de Caracas
• Larry Harrington, Former U.S. Executive Director, Inter.-American Development Bank
• José María García Meyer, Chief Executive Officer, BBVA USA
• Fernando Oris de Roa, President, Orígenes y Destinos
• Juan Quirós, President, Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (APEX-Brazil)
• Richard M. Riccobono, Deputy Director, U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision
• Mauricio Rodríguez, Vice President, Casa Editorial El Tiempo and Director, Portafolio
• Eugenio Staub, President and Chairman, Gradiente
• Harry Strachan, Managing Partner, Bain & Company
• Gustavo Julio Vollmer, President, Corporación Palmar
• Alberto Vollmer M., Executive President, Ron Santa Teresa

This year’s Sumaq Summit has been structured into two days. The first day will center on the current business environment in Latin America including the macroeconomic, political, cultural and social structures of the diverse regions. The second day, executive education experts from the Sumaq Alliance will present a series of panels where corporate leaders, politicians and academics will provide direct insights on critical issues affecting the region, including corporate governance, diversity, social sustainability, low income markets, remittances and investments from a Latin American perspective.

Program participants will also have the ability to extend their networks through the various planned activities, including luncheons and evening events that serve as a forum to meet and exchange opinions with other leading executives. Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will be the keynote speaker at the Gala Dinner on May 5th.

“We are proud to promote the kind of dialogue with business leaders in key U.S. markets that is needed to support the development, growth, and prosperity that exists in the Latin American market,” said Santiago Iñiguez , Dean of Instituto de Empresa (IE), the founding school of Sumaq. “In view of its importance as a gateway to Latin American markets, we feel Atlanta is the ideal place to host Sumaq Summit 2005, and we appreciate Governor Perdue’s invitation to host our second annual executive conference in Atlanta.”

Sumaq Summit 2005 will be held at the Omni Hotel-CNN Center. The registration fee is $1,300. More information about Sumaq Summit 2005 (registration, special corporate rates and sponsorship packages) is available at www.sumaq.org.

About the Sumaq Alliance

The Sumaq Alliance is a global learning network and partner in executive education to executives worldwide. It is comprised of eight top-ranked business schools from different countries in Europe and Latin America, all leaders in their respective markets (IE – Instituto de Empresa in Spain, INCAE in Central America, FGV-EAESP in Brazil, EGADE - Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, IESA in Venezuela, Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile, and Universidad de San Andres in Argentina).

The Sumaq Alliance is the only entity of its kind in the Latin American marketplace that trains corporate leaders, interacts with top-level national decision-makers in their respective countries and prepares corporations for the global economy. Sumaq schools share more than 500 experts in executive education, 100,000 alumni in 90 different countries and nine operating campuses. The Sumaq Alliance is the biggest alliance in the educational sector and the largest virtual think tank on Latin American management issues in the world. For more information visit: www.sumaq.org.

About Instituto de Empresa (IE)

Instituto de Empresa, a renowned international business school, empowers graduates with the highest levels of academic achievement, innovative thinking and real-world experience to build successful, ethical organizations worldwide. The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Business Week and The Economist consistently rank IE as a top international business school and highlight its ability to instill qualities of leadership and entrepreneurship, as well as teaching managerial, communication and interpersonal skills. Additionally, Fortune 1000 companies trust IE as a partner that delivers original, market-oriented concepts with measurable business results. Located in the thriving business community of Madrid, IE offers an open yet structured approach to its full-time master's degree programs, part-time executive master's degrees and executive education programs by integrating academic excellence, entrepreneurship and applied research within an internationally diverse environment. For more information visit: www.ie.edu.