Keynote Speakers

 Dr. Pedro Arieta Vega has been the Provost, founding member, and Dean of the Faculty of Legal Sciences of Universidad de Oriente since 2013. As a professional practitioner, Dr. Arieta is an attorney, notary, university professor, and commercial arbitrator. He holds a Juris Doctor and Doctorate in Law specializing in private law, master's degrees in comparative law, business law, and financial and banking law, and a bachelor's degree in legal sciences. Dr. Arieta Vegas has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universidad Católica de Occidente from El Salvador and by the Organization of the Americas for Educational Excellence (ODAEE), and a Doctorate Honoris Causa, awarded by Universidad del Valle, Nicaragua. He also serves as President of the Central America and Panama Private Universities Association(AUPRICA), President of the El Salvador Lawyers Associations Federation, and a member of the Ibero-American Lawyers Union (UIBA). As a professional and social activist, Dr. Arieta Vega has served as former governor of the Lions Club Association, current President of Inversionistas y Asesores, Heliservicios, ARIG, Grupo Águila Deportivo, and Secretary Director on the Board of Directors of the Financial System Superintendency of El Salvador. Additionally, he is the Director of the National Telecommunications Association (ANTEL), the  National  Sugar  Institute, and the  Agricultural Development Bank. He presides over Abogados Corporativos de Oriente and is a shareholder, founder, and Director of Turísticas de Oriente (Hotel Trópico Inn). 

Prof. Natasha de Klerk is a Professor of Marketing and the School Director of the School of Management Sciences in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the North-West University in South Africa. Prof Natasha holds a PhD in Business Management, and her undergraduate qualifications include a Masters in Marketing Management and a National Diploma in Tourism Management. She has successfully delivered various PhD and master’s candidates. Prof Natasha is a prolific writer who has published numerous academic journal articles and presented papers at various national and international conferences. Her research areas of specialization include fashion marketing, entrepreneurship, services marketing, consumer behavior, and profiling Generation Youth. With over 20 years of lecturing experience and a career focused on academic excellence, Prof Natasha bridges theoretical insights with a comprehensive knowledge of evolving consumer behavior and industry trends. Her leadership as School Director involves managing an extensive portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate programs and fostering collaboration among a multidisciplinary team of scholars. A strategic thinker and advocate for forward-thinking marketing practices, her work emphasizes the interplay between consumer behavior and societal trends. This focus has seen her contribute to understanding how consumer insights can drive sustainable growth, a cornerstone of her academic and professional endeavors.

Miguel Kattan is a specialist in the strategic management of trade and investment issues, trained at the José Simeón Cañas University (UCA). His experience has led him to make essential contributions to economic matters at the government level. In his role as Secretary of Commerce and Investment, he has demonstrated his commitment to the economic growth of El Salvador, working on issues of cooperation, tourism, foreign and local investment, innovation, and others. One of the points he has focused on is strengthening the business environment as an axis for generating jobs and thus improving the living conditions of citizens. The Secretariat of Commerce and Investment is an institution that promotes organic work between state agencies, and its head develops and executes actions focused on strengthening economic growth. Miguel Kattan has worked in trade facilitation, the Multidimensional study of the country, and in projects such as Electronic Signature, Digital Identity, and Single Window for Foreign Trade; he also participates in international and local financial negotiations. Always focused on ensuring that government-private sector relations are harmonious and contribute to the development of the new El Salvador.