Juan Corti�as-Garcia is a Senior Vice President at CLS. Mr. Corti�as-Garcia has vast experience in public affairs, corporate, campaign and strategic communications work in Washington. Mr. Corti�as-Garcia has worked to strengthen U.S. support for the United Nations and its peacekeeping programs for the Better World Campaign. Previously, he helped in the communications efforts for the Pew Center for Global Climate Change by raising the profile of the organization and helping them introduce market mechanisms as a way to address the polarized policy debate on climate change. Mr. Corti�as-Garcia has led crisis communications efforts involving legal disputes and complex Latin American transactions for leading corporations such as HBO Latin America, Sithe Energies, ABB and Empresas Polar of Venezuela. Currently, Mr. Corti�as is part of the CLS team helping a consortium of Latin American and U.S. companies, among them Techint and Pluspetrol of Argentina, which is developing the Camisea gas pipeline project in Peru. In addition, Mr. Corti�as-Garcia was involved in the 2002 Bolivian Presidential campaign as an advisor to one of the principal candidates and most recently advised the Government of Nicaragua in the development and implementation of a strategic communications campaign in support of a tax reform package. Prior to joining CLS, Mr. Corti�as-Garcia was Communications and Legislative Director for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA). He also spent six years working in the U.S. Congress as a Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant for Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), a senior member of the House International Relations Committee. During that time, he worked on domestic and international affairs issues particularly dealing with U.S. policy toward Latin America. A native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Corti�as-Garcia is fluent in Spanish. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and International Relations from Michigan State University and a Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America. |