San Antonio, Texas - The Board of Directors of the North American Development Bank (NADB) and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) has approved two-year contract extensions for NADB Managing Director Geronimo Gutierrez, NADB Deputy Managing Director Alex Hinojosa and BECC General Manager Maria Elena Giner.
The Board’s decision to extend these contracts is due to the extraordinary circumstances of the contemplated merger of the institutions, which is expected to be substantially completed by the end of the two-year extension period.
In December 2014, the Board of Directors approved a resolution recommending the merger of NADB and BECC into a single institution. The proposed integration would preserve the current mission, purposes and functions of both organizations, including the environmental mandate and geographic jurisdiction of the institutions. The recommendation to integrate NADB and BECC came as a result of joint efforts by the institutions that began in July 2011 to streamline processes and improve coordination in their project development activities.
“The U.S. and Mexican governments are in the process of agreeing on an amended Charter that will formally merge the institutions. We are honored that the Board has confidence in us to implement the vision of a united organization that will better serve the environmental objectives of the border region”, stated Mr. Gutiérrez.
“We are working on many initiatives for the merger that will allow a single institution to achieve an even greater impact aside from operational efficiency gained from consolidating the project development process and technical assistance efforts” Ms. Giner added. “It makes sense to have the current team finalize the process it began with the Board in 2011.”
Mr. Gutierrez, a Mexican citizen, was appointed Managing Director of NADB on October 15, 2010 and Mr. Hinojosa, a U.S. citizen, was appointed Deputy Managing Director in December of the same year. Mr. Gutierrez’s contract will extend until October 2017, and Mr. Hinojosa’s until December 2017.
Ms. Giner, a U.S. citizen, was appointed General Manager of BECC on October 15, 2010, and will remain in the position until October of 2017.
Since 1994, BECC has certified 253 projects and NADB has provided more than US$2.59 billion in loans and grants to finance 215 of those projects, which are benefitting more than 15 million residents in communities on both sides of the border. In the last five years, NADB’s loan portfolio has grown 206%.