The Diplomat
The economist José Juan Ruiz Gómez will be the new president of the Elcano Royal Institute, following Jaime Lamo de Espinosa’s decision to resign from the post at the end of last December.
José Juan Ruiz holds a degree in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma and is a member of the Corps of Commercial Technicians and Economists of the State.
A consultant on macroeconomic issues and Latin American markets and a regular columnist for the newspaper “El País”, José Juan Ruiz has been a member, in his personal capacity, of the Scientific Committee of the Real Instituto Elcano since 2012. Until that date, he had spent several years on the Board of Directors of the “think tank”, representing Banco de Santander, for which he worked in its Latin America division.
Between 2012 and 2018, José Juan Ruiz was chief economist and head of the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a department from which new ideas are generated to support the public policies of the institution and its member countries.
Ruiz Gómez also held various government positions in the Ministries of Economy, Finance and Trade. He was Secretary General for International Economy and Competition and Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of the European Union from 1991 to 1993. He was also responsible for Spain’s relations with the OECD, the IMF and the World Bank, where he acted as a consultant.
