Eduardo Stein served as vice president of Guatemala from 2004 to 2008 and was coordinator of the Honduran Truth Commission. From 1996 to 2000, Stein served as minister of foreign relations of Guatemala. As such, he participated actively in the country’s peace process in the promotion of international support for the implementation phases. Since leaving government, Stein has served as a consultant for the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Development Program. He has also been president of the Foundation of the Americas and the head of various OAS Electoral Observation Missions. Stein has ample experience in the coordination and promotion of international cooperation between Latin American, European Community, and Nordic governments with Central America, as a result of his decade-long involvement with CADESCA (Action Committee for the Support of the Social and Economic Development of Central America), where he promoted foreign aid for and helped implement development projects in the areas of food security, indigenous peoples’ and peasants’ productive organizations, micro and small enterprises, agro-industry, and environmental issues.

Among his present international collaborations and duties, he is one of the twelve members of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that reports to the secretary general of the UN: he is also one of the two Latin American members of the International Crisis Group in Brussels, for the prevention and handling of political crises worldwide. Stein obtained his master’s and doctorate degrees in communications sciences from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s in philosophy from the University of St. Louis.

María Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for El Salvador from 1999 to 2003 and is currently Director of Corporate Sustainability at HSBC for Latin America, where she oversees sustainable development projects like a climate initiative in Brazil and a tree-planting project in Costa Rica. Brizuela worked at the Salvadoran Social Security Institute in 1994 and in 1995 she became the manager of the Fund of Social Investment. She worked as an insurance executive, becoming the first woman in El Salvador to serve as president of an insurance company, Internacional de Seguros (International Insurance) where she worked from 1996-1999. In 1999, she was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs and was the first woman to head the Ministry. In 2000 the first Hemispheric Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women was held by the Inter-American Commission of Women. Brizuela, and delegates from 32 other countries of the Americas attended to create and adopt the women's strategy for the 21st century. She remained in the government service until 2003, when she left to take a position as president of Banco Salvadoreño (Salvadoran Bank), becoming first Salvadoran woman to lead a private bank. In 2006, she received the Distinguished Professional of the Year Award from her alma mater, José Matías Delgado University.

Eduardo Stein, former Vice President of Guatemala Task Force Co-Chair

María Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador Task Force Co-Chair

Luis Cosenza has had a distinguished career in public service. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with his PhD in electrical engineering, Cosenza began a career with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Costa Rica. He spent eight years working with the Bank supervising projects in Costa Rica and then preparing projects at the headquarters in Washington, DC. In 1989 he joined the World Bank and began working on projects in both Africa and Latin America. He worked with the World Bank advising countries on electricity and power projects until 1997. He then served as campaign manager for Ricardo Maduro when Maduro won the presidency of Honduras in 2001 and as the minister of the presidency in the Maduro administration, responsible for coordinating the day-to-day activities of the government and working with multilateral and bilateral donors. With 16 years of experience with development banks in Latin America and Africa, he has served as executive director for Central America and Belize on the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank and worked with the World Bank. Cosenza began his career with the Honduran state-owned power utility, where he rose to CEO.

Ambassador Negroponte held government positions abroad and in Washington between 1960 and 1997 and again from 2001 to 2008. Since 2009, Ambassador Negroponte has also been the Brady Johnson Distinguished Fellow in Grand Strategy and Senior Lecturer in International Affairs at the Jackson Institute of Yale University, his alma mater. He has been Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. In Washington he served twice on the National Security Council staff, first as Director for Vietnam in the Nixon Administration and then as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a cabinet level position as the first Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as Deputy Secretary of State, where he served as the State Department’s Chief Operating Officer. Ambassador Negroponte serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Council of the Americas/Americas Society. He is also Co-chairman of the US-Philippines Society and a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He has also served as Chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Ambassador Negroponte has received numerous awards in recognition of his more than four decades of public service, including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Medal on two separate occasions, the highest award which can be conferred by the Secretary of State, and on January 16, 2009, President Bush awarded Ambassador Negroponte the National Security Medal for his outstanding contributions to US national security.

Luis Cosenza, former Minister of the Presidency of Honduras Task Force Co-Chair

John D. Negroponte, Vice Chairman, McLarty Associates, and Former Director of National Intelligence Task Force Co-Chair

Co-chair of the Congressional Central America Caucus, Congressman David G. Valadao was born and raised in Hanford, California, in the center of the agriculturally rich Twenty First Congressional District, which he was elected to represent in 2012. The district includes Kings County and portions of Fresno, Kern, and Tulare Counties. He was reelected for his third term in November 2016. Valadao is proud to serve on the influential House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for funding the federal government and determining where American tax dollars are spent. He also serves on the Agriculture Subcommittee, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittees, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. Since he came to Congress, Valadao has established himself as a leader in agriculture and water policy, two important issues for his constituents in CA-21. His time in Congress has been focused on combating the water issues impacting California’s Central Valley. In the 114th Congress, Valadao introduced H.R. 2829, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015, to address the regulatory burdens that have largely contributed to the severe drought conditions in Central and Southern California. On the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Committee, Valadao worked to ensure Naval Air Station Lemoore was named the location for the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet of the F-35C aircraft.

He previously served in California’s State Assembly, representing the 30th District. Valadao served on several California Assembly Committees including the Agriculture Committee, where he held the position of Committee Vice-Chair.

A member of the Congressional Central America Caucus, Congressman Engel is the Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He also serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee including the Subcommittee on Health, and the Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He is the founder and Co-Chair of the House Oil and National Security Caucus, which is seeking clean, energy efficient alternatives to America's over-reliance on oil. He also sits on the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, the Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Anti-Semitism, the HIV/AIDS Caucus, the Long Island Sound Caucus, and the Animal Protection Caucus, among others.

Congressman Engel was born in the Bronx on February 18, 1947. He grew up in a city housing project and attended New York City public schools. In 1969, he graduated from Hunter-Lehman College with a B.A. in History and received a Master's Degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1973 from Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York. In 1987, he received a law degree from New York Law School.

The Hon. David G. Valadao, Representative of California's 21st District Task Force Honorary Co-Chair

The Hon. Eliot Engel, Representative of New York's 16th District Task Force Honorary Co-Chair