Dr. Ernesto Zedillo

Dr. Ernesto Zedillo is director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former President of Mexico. Prior to his presidency he served as deputy director at Mexico's Central Bank and secretary of economic programming and the budget. In this capacity he contributed to the successful economic reforms undertaken by the federal government during the early 1990s. He was appointed Secretary of Education in early 1992, and immediately launched a sweeping reform of the national basic education system that included decentralizing the system from the federal to the state governments. As President Dr. Zedillo drove political reform to achieve full democracy in Mexico and managed the country's economic crisis in 1995. Among his many activities since leaving office, former President Zedillo has been chairman of the high level Financing for Development Panel convened by the UN Secretary General, member of the Trilateral Commission, as well as member of advisory boards for the Council of Foreign Relations, and the Institute for International Economics. He has been appointed to a panel of experts that will advise the World Trade Organization on the global trading system. Former President Zedillo has received decorations from the governments of 32 countries. He has been awarded the Wilbur Cross Medal and a doctorate in Law honorary degree from Yale University, the Democracy and Peace Award from the Institute of the Americas of the University of California at San Diego, and the Medal from Freedom Award from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.