About

Oscar García Mendoza is a senior executive with an extensive background in banking, finance, economic and social affairs. He is the former president and CEO of Venezolano de Crédito, Banco Universal (founded in 1925) a position he held from 1983 to 2014.

He has served on the boards of of several successful companies throughout his career, both in Venezuela and abroad. These include several joint ventures with global financial firms such as Societe Generale and Swiss Bank Corporation. He previously served as a member of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a division of the World Bank Group and is co-founder of Suiche 7B, the first system to interconnect ATMs throughout Venezuela.

Through his interest in entrepreneurship, García Mendoza participated in a broad range of activities relating to financial services. Currently, he is chairman of the board at NovoPayment Group, an award-winning payments technology and services company serving the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.

He is a former contributor to El Universal, one of the leading Venezuelan newspapers and publishers, and for Veneconomia, a respected weekly business periodical covering national news and providing analysis. He has authored several books devoted to economic and banking affairs including “Cronica Involuntaria de una Crisis Inconclusa” (Involuntary Chronicle of an Unfinished Crisis) , Comentarios al Borde del Caos (Comments on the Edge of Chaos), “El Libro en Rojo del Banco Central de Venezuela” (The Central Bank of Venezuela’s Books in Red). Through his interest in social responsibility, he has collaborated on projects that champion individual rights and private enterprise. Examples of these projects include Un Sueño para Venezuela, a citizenship educational program, Por un Pais de Propietarios (a property rights defense program) and Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (a watch group focused on protecting the human rights of Venezuelan prisoners). In 2013, García Mendoza was honored by with the “Excellence in the Defense of Liberty” award, presented by the Atlas Network Foundation.

Experience

Over the years, García Mendoza has been fortunate to serve as a member of the board of directors for some of the most outstanding companies in Venezuela. These include Sivensa, formerly the nation’s largest private-sector steel corporation, La Electricidad de Caracas C.A. and other companies focused on the energy, iron and steel sectors. This experience also extends to serving as a board member for several educational institutions, including Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB) and IESA Business School, where he served as a Trustee. García Mendoza is also a former Chairman of the Board for Conapri, the Venezuelan Investment Promotion Council and a former member of the Business Advisory Council. Currently, he is pleased to participate on the boards of three important think tanks: CEDICE Libertad (Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge) for which he is current first vice president, Liderazgo y Visión (Leadership and Vision) for which he is a founder and current president, and on the international advisory board of Fundación Internacional para la Libertad (International Liberty Foundation).

Education

Graduated from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello’s School of Law in Caracas, and earned a degree in social studies from Universitá Internazionale degli Studi Sociali in Rome, Italy.