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Unlikely career took Mejía around the world From the Atlanta Business Chronicle - February 9, 2007
But to Mejía, a native of Guayaquil, Ecuador, his entire career in finance and international relations has been an unplanned journey. His mission after studying agricultural engineering was to take over his father's nearly 1,500-acre soybean and corn farm in Guayaquil. Yet each time he tried to let his father, now 70, retire, another job in international relations fell in his lap. In January, he became the second executive director of the two-year-old United Nations affiliate CIFAL Atlanta. This tops a career with jobs such as the vice minister of the economy in Ecuador, governor to The World Bank and a leader of the chamber of industries in Guayaquil, Ecuador's economic engine. Most recently, Mejía was the vice president for government relations for Hemisphere Inc., an organization created to lure the headquarters of a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to Atlanta. The FTAA didn't come to pass, and Hemisphere's offices have been closed. Then, just as Mejía and his family were packing boxes to return to Ecuador, he was summoned to an interview with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who chairs CIFAL Atlanta's board of directors. The board picked Mejía to replace the outgoing director, Axel Leblois, who helped bring the two-year-old agency to Atlanta. Leblois said he was thrilled to pass the baton to Mejía, whose challenge now will be to oversee a fast-growing organization. "I think we're growing much faster than anticipated," said Leblois, "which is a good thing, but we need to grow the funding, logistics, everything. It's a good challenge to have -- I'm not worried about it -- but it's going to be hard work." "I find Alex to be incredibly optimistic and energetic, traits that a new organization certainly needs in a leader," said Claire McLeveighn, director of external affairs and international relations for the city of Atlanta. She met Mejía at Hemisphere. "I was extremely impressed with the level and the extent of his contacts in Washington, D.C., with The World Bank, the Inter-American Council, the United Nations and governments in Latin America." Craig Lesser, Georgia's former commissioner of economic development, said it's Mejía's knowledge of Latin America that makes him such a good diplomat. "He has enormous credibility, and he's so likable," said Lesser, who heads a new international public affairs division at the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP and is on CIFAL Atlanta's board of directors. Mejía was born and raised in Guayaquil, a coastal Ecuadoran city that gave him his love for all things foreign. "When you have a big port, there's a big influence from foreign nationals, with their accents, newspapers and fashion," said the bilingual Mejía. "My love for international and cosmopolitan things came from that." After high school, his father enrolled Mejía in Ecuador's naval academy. Traveling with the academy furthered Mejía's interest in the outside world. But as the oldest of five siblings, Mejía felt pulled by his duty to take the reins of his father's business. "It was the first crisis in my life," said Mejía, "because my family business was in agriculture for seven generations, or since the 18th century. I decided my call to duty was in that field, not in international or military fields." Five months after graduating with a degree in agricultural engineering, a friend of his father's invited Mejía to work for an Ecuadoran subsidiary of CitiBank, telling Mejía's father, "Your son needs to learn about finances." The one-year assignment turned into an eight-year stint at the bank, culminating in the international division. In 1998, Mejía joined Ecuador's foreign service, and was sent to the country's largest embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, where he was the commercial consular official. Two years later, he was tapped as the vice minister of economy and finance of Ecuador, when the newly elected president told him he wanted someone he trusted "close to the money." When Mejía left that post, he again returned to Guayaquil to take over his father's farm but immediately was hired as the executive vice president of the city's largest trade association, the Chamber of Industries. After that, Mejía moved to Washington, D.C., as director of the Andean program of the Inter-American Council, which led to Hemisphere and now CIFAL Atlanta. CIFAL Atlanta is an affiliate of the United Nations. Its mission is to train local officials from the Western Hemisphere on issues of technology, economic development and civil rights. Atlanta is one of 12 cities worldwide with a CIFAL office. (CIFAL is the French acronym for International Training Center for Local Authorities, and is under the U.N. Institute for Training and Research.) In 2007, Mejía will bring nearly 3,000 officials from around the globe to Atlanta for training on topics ranging from gender equality to airport management. CIFAL Atlanta's $2 million budget is funded through public-private partnerships. Funding comes from the city of Atlanta, state of Georgia, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and companies such as Delta Air Lines Inc., which pays for much of the travel related to CIFAL's programs in Atlanta. As Mejía takes over at CIFAL Atlanta, he is hopeful his younger brother will take over the family farm so his father can retire. Executive profile Alexander A. Mejía Reach Ramos at rramos@bizjournals.com. If you know an executive whose hobby -- or day job -- is unusual enough to be in print, contact Michelle Graff at mgraff@bizjournals.com. |
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