IPADE Business School proudly welcomed President Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez of the Republic of Panama to its Mexico City campus for a Special Gala Session. President Varela addressed 300 participants of the 2016-2017 Continuing Education Management Program at the invite-only event.
IPADE Dean Rafael Gómez Nava warmly welcomed President Varela to Mexico and to the IPADE Mexico City campus, thanking him for his visit and congratulating him on the recent launch of the IPADE Panama and its inaugural AD-2 Program.
“IPADE Panama was founded on August 8, 2016,” said Dean Gómez Nava. “President Varela’s presence here at IPADE in Mexico, and the launch of the AD-2 Program in Panama, are clear commitments to building a human-centered business culture and promoting Panamanian businesses as competitive, innovative, human focused, and open to competing on a global scale.”
During his presentation, President Varela focused on his personal path to public office and on the power of public service.
“Public life is full of sacrifices,” he said, “but it provides great satisfaction, as long as you’re there to serve [the people] and not to serve yourself. The future is ours to shape, and we must place the people at the center of all our activities.”
President Varela also highlighted the role of the recently created IPADE Panama as a place for the Panamanian and Central American business world to gather together, learn, and continue to improve.
“The public sector needs people with all types of backgrounds,” emphasized the President. “Whether or not a country moves forward depends not only on its president and its government, but also on its social environment. It depends on each person, each member of society. This middle ground between the public sector, the private sector, and civil society is where the power comes from to show the youth of today the path towards the common good.”
A contingent of Panamanian government and business leaders accompanied the President during his visit, including Mr. Augusto Arosemena, Minister of Commerce and Industries; Mr. Dulcidio de la Guardia, Minister of Economy and Finance; Ambassador Manuel Pérez, Ambassador of the Republic of Panama to Mexico; Mr. Luis Miguel Hincapie, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Jonattan del Rosario, Vice-Minister of Public Security; Representative Melitón Arrocha; Ms. Nicole Wong, Director of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Raúl Sandoval, Executive Secretary to the President; Mr. Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Holdings; and Ambassador Emmanuel González-Revilla, Ambassador of the Republic of Panama to the United States.
The recently launched IPADE Panama AD-2 Program is targeted towards high-level managers that hold positions of influence within the Central American business world.
