María Claudia Díaz Consultant    Areas of Focus Maria is based in Bogota, Colombia.  Her work focuses on economic developments within Colombia and how they affect the business environment.  She specializes in oil, gas and power markets.  Maria has extensive knowledge of Colombia’s energy sector regulation and legislation, and the politics and policy of energy.  She has a good sense of energy economics, and a strong background in infrastructure.  Maria has closely followed the Colombia’s gas sector policy and regulation evolution for the past several years. Previous Work Experience   Maria has worked in economic, policy and regulatory analysis for investors with special focus on energy and mining sectors, for almost 10 years.  Before joining IPD, Maria acted as advisor to the CEO of a private electricity distribution company in Colombia.  She focused on corporate and strategic issues, including: company management, sector performance analysis, investment opportunities and special projects development to expand throughout Colombia.     As an economic analyst for the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) of the Colombian government, she researched, monitored and evaluated mining industry performance, with particular attention to foreign direct investment and trade in both the domestic and international markets.    Maria has experience with foreign direct investment (FDI) promotion through her participation in a technical cooperation project between Inter American Development Bank and Invest in Colombia Corporation (Coinvertir) to attract FDI to Colombian companies, as well as several related projects.    She also acted as economic analyst and liaison for technical affairs for the National Treasury Inspector’s office with the Colombian National Congress on topics related to the mining and energy sectors.   Education   Maria holds a BA in Economics from Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia.  She is currently enrolled in an executive Master in Energy Management program at ESCP Europe.  She has also pursued graduate studies in management and leadership, investment promotion, and quality standards.  Languages Spoken   Spanish, English