Webinar: "Extractive Industries Facing an Electoral Process in Ecuador"

Ricardo Obando graduated as a Sociologist from Pontificia Universidad Catolica (Ecuador). Currently, he is an International Consultant on Social Affairs and Community Development, and is also the VP of Corporate Social Responsibility & Community Relations for Lowell Mineral Exploration Ecuador. He is also a consultant on the development of extractive industries as a facilitator of dialogue and conflict resolution processes.

Ricardo holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Migration and Development (FLACSO Ecuador), and a Diploma in Trends and Challenges facing National Oil Companies and the Hydrocarbon Law (CADES, Bolivia).

In terms of his most relevant work experience, Ricardo was an Advisor to the Minister of Mining and a Strategic Coordinator for Social Intervention for the Coordinating Ministry of Strategic Sectors. He was also the Director of Social and Environmental Monitoring for the Secretariat of Hydrocarbons of Ecuador, and a Department Coordinator of Public Participation, Community Relations and Social & Environmental Conflict Management in Hydrocarbon and Mining Activities for the Ministry of the Environment. Previously, he was a Coordinator of the Community Relations, Public Participation and Prior Consultation Processes at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, and a Research Technician for the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

José Antonio Villena has a Law Degree from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica (Ecuador), a PhD from the Universidad de Salamanca / Katholiek University of Leuven, a Master’s Degree in Governance from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador), a Master’s Degree in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and New Technologies from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) and an Erasmus Scholarship from Universidad Autonoma de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal).

Jose is currently an International Advisor for Constitutional Affairs and Regional Integration. He is also an activist in environmental affairs and collective rights, and a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

He is the President of the General Assembly for the Rights of Children, Women, and Adolescents, based out of Rabat, Morocco (2014 to date); He is the Executive President of the Ibero-American Association of Origin Denominations located in Quito, an Advisor to the Andean Parliament, and the Director of “Diplomatic Society” of the Universidad de las Americas (Quito, Ecuador).  In 2018, Jose served as the Dean of the Liberal Arts Faculty of Universidad del Pacifico in 2018.

Jose has also worked as a Consultant on Citizen Participation and Participatory Budgets for the Municipality of Quito, an External Advisor on the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Andean Countries, and an Advisor on “The Climate Project”, Al Gore’s initiative on Climate Change.

Alvaro Ordóñez graduated as a lawyer from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Quito (Ecuador) and holds a master’s degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Law & Policy (LL.M.) from the University of Denver (USA), with a specialization in energy, mining law and sustainable development.

He was the National Undersecretary of Mining Contracts and, as such, was part of the team that negotiated Ecuador’s first large-scale mining exploitation contract. He co-authored the reform of Ecuador's Mining Law, which provides incentives for the mining industry, and has advised a number of different countries on mining policy. He has supported the Ecuador Chamber of Mining and has acted as its Director from 2016 to 2018.

Currently, Alvaro is dedicated to providing legal advice to companies and institutions, particularly in the extractive industry, on oil, mining, financial and environmental issues, as well as on real state, public procurement, constitutional matters, compliance, legal disputes and arbitration.

Some of the most notable matters he has been involved in includes the successful support for the restart of operations of a mining company, which included negotiations with indigenous communities in ancestral territories, the successful judicial demand for the recovery of an important mining concession before the declaration of expiration of the license by the Government of Ecuador, the negotiation of a cross-border agreement for the transportation of crude oil, among others. He has participated in the strategy to defend the rights of mining companies before the Constitutional Court and has experience in obtaining environmental permits and water use rights.

He is a frequent speaker on issues related to the mining industry in Ecuador. Among his most notable presentations include: his participation as speaker on sustainable development policies at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), held at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland in November 2012; his presentation on mining policy in Ecuador; and his presentation on incremental oil production contracts at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, held in Cartagena, Colombia, in April 2015. He is a founding member of the Petroleum Energy Law Forum (FODEP), an annual event that brings together a significant number of participants.

Andrés Donoso is a partner at FERRERE Ecuador. He is the co-chair of its Energy and Infrastructure teams and heads up the firm’s Oil & Gas area.

Before joining FERRERE he was a partner in a major law firms in Ecuador, where his professional practice focused on the areas of Oil & Gas, mining, regulatory, and natural resources.

With over 15 years of professional practice, Andrés has accrued broad experience in both the public and private sectors. In recent years his practice has focused on legal advice to the chief oil and mining companies operating in Ecuador.

In the Oil & Gas area he has provided specialized advice at all levels of the crude oil production and distribution chain (exploration-exploitation, transport, distribution and sale). In addition to advice on regular company operations, his practice extends to strategy design for progressive development of investments, and dispute and conflict settlement.

Additionally, he has vast public service experience in Ecuador. Over seven years Andrés held the positions of Secretary of Oil & Gas, Legal Manager of Petroamazonas EP, the chief Oil & Gas exploration and exploitation company, head negotiator for the Ecuadorian State on oil and mining contracts, among other coordination and advisory activities for the Ministry of Nonrenewable Natural Resources.

During his public service he worked on creation and consolidation of Petroamazonas EP, promoting ground-breaking legal reforms on Oil & Gas and mining. As Secretary of Oil & Gas, he led the negotiation of more than 18 oil contracts over the 2010 and 2011 years, signature of the country’s first large-scale mining contract, design of contract models for development of mature fields, creation of socio-environmental processes for prior consultation and social participation in territories of indigenous peoples and megadiverse areas of the Amazon, as well as promotion of investments in different jurisdictions.

In his private practice Andrés worked for several years with Dispetrol S.A. as Legal Director and Executive Vice President, assuming legal and business management roles at the company.

For several years he has been the Director and controller of Fundación por Una Vida, a nonprofit organization created in 1990 to aid low-income children affected by leukemia and other onco-hematological diseases.

Alejandra Rivas has over 30 years of professional experience in mediation and negotiation, crisis management, corporate affairs, government affairs, and institutional affairs. She has been a Political Image Advisor and advertising campaign strategist for a wide variety of fields, making her career in industries in which reputation management, regulatory risk, and public affairs management are crucial issues; these include oil & gas, tobacco, mining, and telecommunications.

Currently, she is General Director and Founder of Transparent Reputation Consulting, a firm specializing in Public Affairs, Crisis Management, Litigations, and Reputation Management.