César Parga

Chief of the Section of Competitiveness, Innovation and Technology, Department of Economic Development

Organization of American States (OAS)

Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI)

Website

Biography

Cesar Parga is Chief of the Section of Competitiveness, Innovation and Technology of the Department of Economic Development of the Organization of American States (OAS). Mr. Parga is in charge of the OAS Competitiveness Program which serves as Technical Secretariat of the Inter-American Competitiveness Network (RIAC), a forum that promotes public policy dialogue and exchange of experiences between high-level authorities and public-private Competitiveness Councils of the Americas. He also coordinates the support to the Meeting of Ministers and High level Authorities on Science and Technology and the Inter-American Committee on Science and Technology (COMCYT).

Mr. Parga served as Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law Center on international trade issues in Washington DC between 2008 and 2019. He supports the Executive MBA Program of the McDonough School of Business of Georgetown University as faculty guide for projects related to the Americas, Trade and Economic Development. Previously, he was a visiting researcher at the National University of Singapore and collaborated as an international evaluator of technology transfer projects for INNPULSA, Colombia, and as peer reviewer of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) innovation and intellectual property paper series.

He graduated from the Law School of the University of Guadalajara, México and was awarded a Master of Laws Degree (LL.M.) in Patent and Intellectual Property Rights (IP) at the Law School of the George Washington University. He also received a Post-Graduate Certificate on International Trade from the University Institute of European Studies and the ILO International Training Center in Torino, Italy.

Nicole Griensewic

Executive Director

Region Nine Development Commission in Minnesota

Biografy:

Griensewic has served as Executive Director of Region Nine Development Commission since 2012. As executive director, Griensewic has made it a priority to foster collaboration and engagement by sharing Region Nine’s story both regionally and globally. Griensewic is an active board and committee member for multiple organizations throughout Minnesota. Griensewic is the immediate past President of the Greater Minnesota Partnership, and is the first female to chair the Executive Committee for the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies, where she served as chair of the Governance Committee. Griensewic also served as secretary of Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota’s Governing Board of Directors and chaired the Governance Committee and currently serves as an advisory board member for South Central College’s Center for Agriculture. She serves on the executive committee for the MACS Board, Minnesotans for the American Community Survey Board of Directors and represents the Midwest on the National Assoc. of Development Orgs.’s (NADO) Board of Directors.

Griensewic is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and has completed course work through Harvard’s Kennedy School’s Executive Education. She received the 2017 Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Her professional background includes extensive private sector and non-profit leadership experience.