Board of Trustees

Ernesto González Garfias - Chair

Ernesto is Managing Director at Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) based in Mexico City and

is Chief Executive Officer of Macquarie Mexico Infrastructure Fund. Mr. González Garfias has over 17 years’ experience as an energy executive in operating companies and has executed project financings and investments with an aggregate value of over $8 billion. Prior to joining MIRA, he was a founding member and Executive Vice President of Business Development of ContourGlobal based in New York, where he was responsible for the development of greenfield power projects and the acquisition of operating power plants. During his tenure at ContourGlobal, the company expanded to assets exceeding $3.5 billion from 36 power plants in 21 countries with an installed capacity of nearly 4 GW and over 1,500 employees. Previously, he also held positions with The AES Corporation and Credit Suisse. Mr. González Garfias received a B.S. in Finance from Texas A&M University. Mr. González Garfias and his wife, Viviana, have two children attending ASF.

Leonardo Franco Schlesinger - First Vice Chair

Leo Schlesinger has an MBA from London Business School and completed courses at Yale and Harvard. Leo begun his career in 1992 at Sun Chemical in NY and then joined Citigroup's Global Leadership Program in NY which took him to Santiago, Sao Paulo and London. Since then he has worked in banking, insurance and private equity and led PE backed companies in Latin America, from Gruponueva Fund (Masisa, Amanco, Plycem) and Tresalia Capital where he now is the CEO of Aliat Universidades; one of the largest private higher education groups with presence in 17 Mexican states, 50 campuses and more than 55,000 students. In 2010 he was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is on the board of the Young Presidents Organization and was chairman of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Natural Capital in Davos, as well as participating in other for and nonprofit boards. Leo Is married to Rocio and they have two children studying at ASF.

Mark Matthew McCoy MacDonald ('89)- Second Vice Chair

Mark was born in Mexico City and graduated from the American School Foundation. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Babson College and a MBA from Columbia Business School. Mark worked for Citibank’s Corporate Bank in Mexico City and for Citigroup’s Investment Banking Division in New York for a total of ten years. He is the CEO of Banco Finterra, S.A., Institución de Banca Múltiple. Mark and his wife Beatriz have three children, two of whom currently study at ASF.

Fernando Antonio Pacheco Lippert ('90)- Financial Advisor

Antonio was born in Mexico City and graduated from The American School Foundation in 1990. He has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago and graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Business Administration from the ITAM in Mexico City. He is currently a Managing Partner at Promecap, an investment firm based in Mexico City. Antonio has more than 20 years of professional experience, mainly in private equity, investment banking and strategic consulting. Antonio is a long standing member of ASF’s Foundation, and has been part of the Finance and Technology Committees of the Board of Trustees.

Lynnette Rivera Pesquera ('89) - Secretary

Lynnette Rivera Pesquera, class of 1989. Attended ASF since the 7th grade. Passionate for sports and

organizing events. ASF was a strong supporter in her athletic career, having been an athlete, coach and being able to prepare as she represented Puerto Rico with the Softball National Team.

Attended Univ Iberoamericana majoring in Hotel Administration and developed a career in Public Relations, working for Coca Cola Export de Mexico, Estee Lauder Companies and Liz Claiborne de Mexico.

In 2018, graduated from the Sociedad Mexicana de Analisis Existencial y Logoterapia. She actually has her practice. As a parent in ASF, has been closely involved and developing the Bear Boosters Club for the past 12 years. Working together with the Athletics Department to increase School spirit and pride and a more involved community in sports. Has been part of important fundraisers and has eagerly worked to create a stronger ASF community. Married to Fernando Contreras, parents of Isabel ‘19, Fernando ‘17 and Alejandro ‘25. Proud ASF family.

César Buenrostro Moreno ('85)

César Buenrostro Moreno was born in Mexico City and graduated from ASF. He is an architect from

Universidad Iberoamericana and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design Professional Development Program ('97, '98, '99). He is director of his own construction and project management firm in Mexico City. From 2002 to 2006, he served as special projects coordinator for the Mexico City Secretary of Transportation and Roads. At ASF, he chaired the Alumni Council, participated in the Endowment Fund Committee and is currently the chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee.

Gail E. Capdepon Gibford

Gail is currently an Assistant Vice President at AT&T Mexico based in Mexico City and is responsible for the Brand, Creative Services and Sponsorships and Digital marketing. She has over 20 years’ experience in Marketing working in global and regional roles across Latin America, Europe and North America with Unilever, Coca-Cola and AT&T. Her experience is varied from working on iconic campaigns like Dove Real Beauty, creating disruptive innovations for Unilever to creating a local, regional and global strategy on obesity issues for Coca Cola and recently launching #SeeHer campaign in Mexico to drive changes in the way the media represents women. In 2020, she was recognized as a Women to Watch in Mexico by AdLatina and was recognized by AT&T for her COVID outreach program with the first partner award given by the company. Gail has a BS in Business Administration from California State University at Northridge, a MBA from Thunderbird, AGISM and has completed classes at Harvard University and Wharton among others. She holds 3 global patents. She has lived in Brazil and the Netherlands and has been in Mexico City for over 8 years. She is married to Andres and has one daughter at ASF.

Ricardo Ganem Castro ('83)

CEO of Mexico and Latin America for Perrigo Co. since 2009, the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world. In Mexico, Perrigo has 5 manufacturing facilities, 1,500 employees and is the top private brand supplier of OTC pharmaceuticals in the country.

Previously spent 12 years in executive level positions with multi-national firms such as Walmart, Campbell´s, Kraft and General Motors, mostly in the areas of sales, marketing, business development and strategic planning.

9 years as an entrepreneur in various industries including furniture, consumer goods and restaurants.

Graduated from the American School in 1983 and went on to The University of Texas at Austin where I received a Bachelor´s degree in Finance and a minor in International Business. Held the position of President of the UT finance association from 1985 through 1987.

Recognized as Senior Athlete of the year in 1983 and member of the ASF Athletic Wall of Fame. I Have been an active supporter of ASF Athletics since 1988. First as assistant coach of the football team, later as President of the Bear Boosters from 1990 through 1995, supported to rebirth of the Bear Boosters in 2010 with continued donations. More recently as Chair of the Golf Committee and member of the Finance Committee. Outside of the ASF, I played Rugby for 12 years, was President of my club and President of the Mexican Rugby Federation.

I am Married to ASF alumni Yvonne Vazquez (´87) with two kids currently attending the American School (Arantza & Ricardo).

Patricio Gutiérrez Tommasi

Patricio has more than 25 years of experience in planning, development and operation of projects and investments. He has ample experience in structuring and managing private capital portfolios with national and international partners. He has a civil engineering degree from Universidad Iberoamericana and a master’s in engineering from Stanford University (Fulbright Scholar). He is an active member of Urban Land Institute (ULI), Asociación Mexicana de Parques Industriales Privados (AMPIP), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) y Stanford Professionals in Real Estate (SPIRE). He has been with Artha Capital since its foundation. He is also a member of the investment committees for different funds and actively participates in the strategic planning for Artha Capital.

Frances Elizabeth Ward Patton de Huttanus

Frances Huttanus was born and raised in Gainesville, Georgia. She received a bachelor of science degree

from The University of the Americas and came to The American School in 1970 as a student teacher. She later became involved in school activities as a homeroom parent, then as treasurer, vice president and board member of the Parent Association and chair of the Art Fair. She was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1986 and served for 11 years. Frances was reelected to the Board in 2007. Her efforts have been instrumental in establishing the programs for Services for Academic Success and financial aid, as well as numerous advancement activities. Active in the international community, Frances served on the board of directors of the Junior League of Mexico City, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and presently serves as vice president of the American Benevolent Society. She spent numerous years as partner/director of design, development and manufacturing of home decorative accessories for export to the U.S. and Europe. Frances is married to Juan Huttanus Tazzer and has two children: Rodrigo (’91) and Leonor (’95). She is chair of the Institutional Advancement Committee.

Carl Eduard Koller Lucio (‘88)

Carl is an attorney-at-law, admitted to practice in Mexico (1994) and New York (1998), specializing in Mexican federal taxation and international taxation. After initial law work in other fields, including civil and commercial litigation, he started his tax practice in 1996, concentrating on federal tax litigation. Over the years, he steadily migrated to consulting-focused and tax controversy practices, which currently occupy most of this time. Career highlights include handling cases that set first precedents in Mexican Supreme Court litigation and contributing to successful lobbying efforts against governmental initiatives that would have been deeply detrimental to taxpayers’ rights. Special areas of practice focus include corporate law compliance. He has been acknowledged as a leading tax attorney in Mexico by various publications. Mr. Koller has an LLB (ITAM, Mexico City, 1994) (cum laude); an LLM (Duke University, US, 1995); and an MBA (full-time degree, Mannheim Business School, Germany, 2012) (cum laude). Currently he is a partner at Turanzas, Bravo & Ambrosi. Carl and his wife, Alicia, have three children attending ASF.

Juan Francisco Serrano Kacz ('79)

Juan heads JFStrategy, a company specializing in consulting services and market research in technology as it applies to business. JFStrategy has worked with a number of top companies including Televisa, IZZI, Alsea, Banco Santander, the German Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, and Banamex-Citibank. Prior to JFStrategy he was CIO at Televisa San Ángel, CIO for “The News” newspaper, director of technical support and sales at CompuServe Mexico, and consultant for the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico. In 2003 he was one of the five members of the Science and Technology Council for the National Electoral Institute. He has been actively involved in projects like Domino’s online ordering in Mexico, Amcham’s Infocenter, and has helped in projects like a unified rewards program for retail restaurants, known as WOW rewards.

Andrew Kenneth Sherr

Andrew Sherr is the Management Counselor to Embassy Mexico City. Previously, he was the Consul General at Consulate General Guayaquil from August 2017 to July 2020. Mr. Sherr has 20 years of experience as a Foreign Service Officer. He has also served in Caracas, Bogota, Asuncion, Sao Paulo, Tegucigalpa, and Banjul. In Washington he served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Management Affairs. Mr. Sherr received a Masters of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. He completed his undergraduate degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He is from Denver and is married with two daughters.

Michelle Troice Martin ('01)

Michelle (’01) was born in Texas and moved to Mexico at an early age. She attended ASF from K-12.

She studied Interior Architecture in CENTRO and now freelances different design and remodeling projects. Her time back at ASF as a parent has been spent by volunteering as Homeroom Parent, at the Book Fairs and at the Art Fair.
She has been Co-Head of the Holiday Bazaar and PA Parliamentarian for the last two years. She has also been an active participant with the ASF Alumni Council as head of the Hosting Committee for ASF Talks.

Paulina Renata Silva Castellanos ('89)

Paulina has been involved in community building activities and events as well as the organization of them. Many of these events have been to raise funds for the Endowment Fund for Financial Aid. As a member of the Parent Association Executive Board, she has had the fortune to work closely with the many divisions of the School and from this she has learned all aspects of how the school is run. Her previous position as President of the Parent Association has given her a well-rounded understanding and skillset, including excellent communication, leadership, ability to work under pressure, and working as a team. In 2019 she was part of the Strategic Planning Group led by the Executive Director, Mr. Sylte, and was invited back this
year.

In addition to this experience, as part of the alumni and parent of ASF, she has a solid passion for any existing and future programs that support the school’s mission. From August 2021, she has been actively working with the Institutional Advancement team as part of the ASF Bazaar Committee and worked on the 7th Virtual Race campaign 2022. She has lived in the US, is married to Francisco and their son Nicolas is a student at ASF.