Tiberiu Urdăreanu, President and CEO, UTI Holdings

Founded in 1990 as a security system developer, UTI has synergistically expanded into a number of complementary fields: first IT, as communications became a vital component of the security sector; followed by installation and construction as part of a vertical integration strategy; then facility management. Tiberiu Urdăreanu discusses the company’s past growth and his ‘Farming, Hunting, Targeting’ strategy for the future.

José Morgado, CEO, Inapa Group

Inapa is a specialist in paper, packaging and visual communication, based in Portugal but with most of its sales coming from the rest of Europe. As such it has been particularly at risk from ongoing austerity and the eurocrisis – but with José Morgado’s leadership it has successfully developed its client relationships, improved efficiency and tightened its resource management to beat the downturn.

Raúl Peláez Cano, CEO, Gruma SAB

Gruma is the world’s largest food producer from Mexico, well established in markets as diverse as Asia, Europe and of course the Americas, thanks to its comprehensive planning and strategy of tailoring its products to each region’s tastes, traditions and lifestyles. Mr Cano explains the company’s innovations.

Michael Thirkettle, Chief Executive, McBains Cooper Group

In 2010, the Mexican Ministry of Security set out to develop eight prisons, each housing 2,500 inmates, the biggest PPP project in Latin America at the time. UK consultancy McBains Cooper Group was brought in as technical advisor. Chief Executive Michael Thirkettle explains how its role went far beyond construction to establish a new design and structure in prison management.

Dario Oscos, Senior Partner, Oscos Abogados

Vitro, the Mexican-based glass manufacturer, defaulted on $1.5bn of debt in 2009 – but before so doing ensured its subsidiaries were its major creditors, allowing the company to control its own reorganisation proceedings. Its bankruptcy plan is preliminarily valid in Mexico but in the US it has been rejected: Dario Oscos explains the significance of this decision, its implications for cross-border trade, and the timeframe for a final verdict.

Carlos Robles, Chief Financial Officer, Telmex

Mexico has one of the highest growth rates of broadband services among OECD countries in the last 10 years. Telmex, the main fixed-line telecoms provider in the country, has prompted this growth by investing $34bn in its network in the last 22 years. Chief Financial Officer Carlos Robles discusses the company’s wide range of services and initiatives which are bringing high-speed broadband within reach of the entire population.