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Board Of Directors
Joan Mitchell
President
Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell retired to San Miguel de Allende, GTO, seven years ago after a distinguished professional career as a language professor, higher education administrator and fundraising executive. She holds a B.A. degree in French from Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA and graduate degrees in French, education, and information science from Harvard University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Her teaching career ranged from positions at Duquesne and Carnegie-Mellon Universities to an assignment at St. Edmund’s Academy in Pittsburgh, PA, where her French students ranged from 5-13 years of age, and which, she says, was by far the most challenging work.
After 17 years as a university library administrator she began her fund-raising career at Georgetown University, where she held the position of Director of Development Midwest USA Region, and then Director of Development for Student Affairs. After 7 years at Georgetown she was made VP for University Advancement at Marymount University of Virginia, a post that she also held later at her alma mater, Wilson College.
After retiring from higher education, Ms. Mitchell focused her fund-raising and management skills on the not-for-profit sector and the arts, serving for eight years as a board member, four of those as board chair, of the historic Capitol Theatre in Pennsylvania, then as fund-raising consultant to Jovenes Adelante, Feed the Hungry, and the San Miguel Instituto de Bel Canto, all NGO’s based in San Miguel de Allende, GTO.
A music student since childhood, Ms. Mitchell has been an opera lover since the age of 10, when a doting uncle began to teach her and then took her to the Metropolitan Opera for the first time when she was 14. In September 2017, she accepted the responsibility of bringing the MetOpera National Council (MONC) auditions to Mexico for the very first time. This required that she lead a fund-raising campaign which exceeded its goals and provide leadership for the planning and execution of the auditions, which brought 34 singers from all parts of Mexico to San Miguel de Allende on November 8, 2018. In June, 2019 she became president of the San Miguel MetOpera Trust, A.C., formed to ensure the future of the MetOpera auditions as an annual event in Mexico and to celebrate them as a milestone in the history of opera in Mexico.
Rafael Sámano
Vice-President
Rafael Sámano
Rafael Sámano es un abogado mexicano, fundador y socio principal de la Firma de Abogados Sámano Abogados, S.C. en la Ciudad de México. Rafael es un gran patrocinador de las artes y la cultura. Antes de fundar San Miguel MetOpera Trust, A.C., fundó la Fundación Viva, misma que apoya la educación, la salud, la cultura y las artes. A través de dicha Fundación, Rafael comenzó a apoyar la carrera del joven tenor Octavio Rivas.
Él junto con Joan Mitchell, fundaron San Miguel MetOpera Trust, A.C.
Experiencia Profesional
Fue Director Jurídico de la Unidad de Desregulación Económica (ahora COFEMER) de la Secretaría de Economía, donde participó en el diseño e implementación de la Ley Federal de Competencia y las reformas a la Ley Reguladora del Servicio Público de Electricidad, a la Ley Nacional del Agua
Y a la Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor, entre otras cuarenta leyes y reglamentos. Posteriormente fue Asesor del Secretario Ejecutivo de la Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica. Posteriormente fue asesor del Secretario Ejecutivo de la Comisión Federal de Competencia. Vivió en Nueva York durante varios años, durante los cuales trabajó como Asociado en el área de fusiones y adquisiciones en los bancos de inversión Bear Stearns & Co. y Merrill Lynch.
Participó en la salida a bolsa de TV Azteca, la emisión de bonos de Unefon, el diseño de Azteca Holdings, la salida a bolsa de Banco Río (Argentina) y la venta de Banco BHIF (Chile), entre otras operaciones. Desde 2001, ha sido Socio Director de Sámano Abogados, S.C., donde se ha dedicado a prestar asesoría en materia corporativa, así como en la creación de diferentes modelos de negocios y desarrollo corporativo, en diferentes áreas como salud, tecnología, telecomunicaciones, entre otros.Es miembro de diferentes asociaciones de abogados tanto en México como en otras partes del mundo.
Daniel Wiley
Treasurer
Daniel Wiley
Mr. Wiley received his BSChE from the University of Kansas in 1957, where he was elected to Alpha Chi Sigma, Sigma Tau and Tau Beta Pi. His first career of 31 years was with the chemical division of PPG Industries, and encompassed process development, R&D administration, and plant technical management. His second career of 11 years was with the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Industrial Technologies. Here he originated the concept of the Industries of the Future program, which facilitated the development of industry-owned visions and technology roadmaps (i.e., chemicals, petroleum refining, glass, aluminum, steel, metal casting, paper, agriculture). While at DOE Mr. Wiley undertook a 1-year detail with the Electric Power Research Institute in 1998 to work on their Technology Roadmap Initiative.
Mr. Wiley has held membership and served in a number of professional organizations, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Chemical Society. He was Chair of the National Capital Section, AIChE from 1998-1999, and was elected Fellow of AIChE in 2001.
Lic. Luisa Suarez
Vocal
Lic. Luisa Suarez
Grupo Vitalmex, S.A. de C.V. Mexico City Administrative and Corporate Governance Director September 2018 to date Led the Human Resources Department in order to align the talent strategy to the objectives set out in the five-year Business Plan of the organization.
Continued with the consolidation of the internal control system and the compliance plan, as well as its replication in the subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Chile, implementing best corporate practices in risk management, compliance, social responsibility and quality.
Continued leading the Legal and Corporate Governance Departments to implement adjustments in the corporate governance model derived from the capital investment made by Australis Partners and to assure compliance in the new commercial projects in the private sector, as well as M&A targets. Led the General Services Area to achieve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s infrastructure in a major effort to reduce capex and opex. Derived from her leadership, Luisa Suárez, in addition to being an active member of Abogadas MX, A.C., a group in which the inclusion and labor recognition of executive women is sought, was invited to participate as an advisor in the mentoring program of said Association.
Mstro. Ragnar Conde
Artistic Advisor
Mstro. Ragnar Conde
A native of Mexico, Ragnar Conde studied Graphic Design at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana- Azcapotzalco and Performing Arts at Casa del Teatro. Since 1992, he has served as teacher, coach and stage director in both the educational and professional sectors. These institutions and companies include SIVAM, ARGOS, Artepost Productions, San Benito Abad Theater, Universidad del Valle de México, Alas y Raíces para los niños, Nickelodeon, Artescenica, ITESM-CEM, National Fine Arts Opera Company, Zacatecas Opera Company, the Madrigalistas Choir, Solists Ensemble, Pro Opera, FIGAROSY, the Centro Histórico Children’s Choir, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, West Bay Opera, Golden Ceiba Productions., Mobile Productions, Morelos Opera Company, Xcaret Archeological Park, Skylight Music Theatre and Pro-Musica.
Mr. Conde has participated in over 70 Performing Arts projects in Mexico, United States, France, Switzerland, Italy and Columbia.. This projects include Theatre, Opera, Musicals, Concerts and Films, sharing credits as Stage Director, Producer, Writer, Acting Coach or Scenic, Lighting and Costume Designer.
His opera productions include L’Enfant et le Sortiléges, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Sour Angélica, Il Segreto di Susana, Bastien und Bastienne, The Telephone, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Don Pasquale, La Bohéme, El Rey Poeta, Agamenón, Leoncio y Lena, Le nozze di Figaro, I Pagliacci, Hänsel und Gretel, Carmen, La Scala di Seta, L’occasione fa il ladro, Dido and Aeneas, Samson et Dalila, Il Trovatore, Traviata, Elisir d’amore, Despertar al Sueño, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, La Creciente and La Voix Humaine. He served as Associate Stage Director for Peter Webster`s production of Little Women, the international première of this most popular opera by Mark Adamo (Mexico City). Conductors and Musical Directors he has worked with include Teresa Rodríguez, James Demster, Enrique Batiz, Luis Fernando Luna, Rodrigo Macías, Gabriela Díaz-Alatriste, Juan Carlos Lomónaco, Roberto Kalb, Benjamín Juárez Echenique, José Luis Moscovich, Andrés Dos Santos, Johannes Debus, Marco Parisotto and Edoardo Muller.
In film, he is the co-writer of No Turning Back, an international feature film (Mexico-Columbia), where he worked also as Acting Coach and Second Assistant. He also worked as Acting Coach in Balls, a Columbian feature film Mr. Conde also adapted the script for the film Seven Years of Marriage, to be feature in Mexico in 2012, and wrote the script for Enamorándome de Abril, to be filmed in the next few months.
Mr. Conde has taught classes in acting, dance, corporal expression and arts. He has extensive experience working with children in professional staging for theatre, opera and concerts, and in coaching acting with opera singers. He has also worked in design, production management and stage management in several national and international projects.
In December 2012 he worked as stage director in the world premier of Viva Verdi, the 200 years celebration of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, in the Hallenstadion, Zürich, under the artistic advice of Mr. Lotfi Mansouri.
He is the General Director of Escenia Ensemble, A. C., a performing arts company in Mexico City
Dra. Luz María Tamés Peña
Legal Advisor
Dra. Luz María Tamés Peña
LUZ MARIA TAMES PEÑA PhD
Luz María is the Legal Advisor of San Miguel Metopera Trust, A.C. She has a PhD in Law from the Universidad Panamericana, an academic institution where she also studied Law and from which she graduated in both studies with Honors.
Along with her corporate practice, with more than 30 years of experience that have led her to represent Mexico in countries such as Taiwan, Singapore and China, as well as to be a speaker for Mexico at APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum).
Since 1993, Luz María has also been an adviser to what we know today as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Therefore, she has an extensive experience in the sector. Also she has supported in its origins the integration of the office in charge of granting the deductibility of donations by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).
She was President of Fundación para la Promoción del Altruismo, I.A.P., institution with which she created the newspaper "Somos Hermanos", she has been a member of the Board of YMCA Patronage, as well as of Comité Ciudadano de Apoyo al Hospital Psiquiátrico Fray Bernardino Álvarez, I.A.P.
In recognition of her work for more than 25 years supporting and advising NGOs, she was awarded by Fundación Appleseed México, A.C. with the 2019 PRO BONO ROBERT HERZSTEIN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT award.
Luz María is also a Professor at the Universidad Panamericana and participates in SparkUP advising new entrepreneurs.
Likewise, she is the Mexican representative before the International Lawyers Group (ILG).
She currently collaborates with Sámano Abogados, S.C. as the lawyer in charge of the Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurship area.
Ricardo González Escobar
Vocal
Ricardo González Escobar
RICARDO GONZÁLEZ ESCOBAR
Expert in leadership and development of high performance teams nationally and internationally. Business Strategist. International speaker.
His training and coaching has been done in Mexico, Canada, the United States and Australia.
He currently runs his own training company, as well as being the LATAM President of the Australian Institute of Neuroscience “About my Brain”.
He has been interviewed for programs on Televisa, TV Azteca, Radio Formula, El Heraldo, Canal 11, among many others.
He was the Director of the Banking and Commercial School for 20 years. Additionally, he conducted his own program “Dejando Huellas” where he interviewed leaders with great experience.
Red de Negocios magazine named him Coach of the Year 2021.