Leandro Alves is Principal and Co-founder of Falvez Energy, where Falvez Energy’s vision is to bring the United States (US) Capital Markets to renewable energy projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Renewable energy projects in Latin America are in need of both short-term and long-term equity, where such gap is seen as a major hurdle to develop the region’s renewable energy portfolio. Falvez Energy's expertise lies in both financial structuring as well as bringing the US Capital Markets (where over US$1 trillion is available for investments) to the renewable energy sector in Latin America, where, from day one, the projects are sufficiently attractive to warrant Foreign Direct Investment.

Prior to forming Falvez Energy, Leandro Alves was Head of the Energy Division at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) (from 2007 to December 2013), responsible for Energy, Oil and Gas, Extractive Industries, and Bio-energy for the Latin America and Caribbean region. Under Mr. Alves’ tenure, IDB’s public sector energy loan approvals increased nine-fold since its inception in 2007, in which the IDB annually approved approximately US$1 billion in energy projects. With Mr. Alves’ leadership, the Energy Division of the IDB has gained significance as a technical advisors for the sector in relation to energy and structured finance; in which over 70 Technical Cooperation were executed for over US$20 million in all 26 borrowing member countries, and with Global Environmental Facility projects for over US$23 million. Lastly, through Mr. Alves’ guidance, the IDB founded the Energy Innovation Center, housed within the Energy Division, which provides technical support to the Latin America Region and fosters knowledge transfer. Mr. Alves’ approach to make the Energy Innovation Center a worldwide center to develop the energy sector of Latin America, was one of inclusion and mutual benefit, in which the following companies joined the Energy Innovation Center, with both financial resources as well as personnel: Vestas (Denmark); Enel (Italy); Abengoa (Spain); Kogas (Korea); JICA (Japan); DOE (US); and MKE (Korea).

Prior to Mr. Alves’ appointment as Head of the Energy Division, he was Senior Investment Officer for the Structured and Corporate Finance Department of the IDB (from 1997 to 2007), responsible for the following parameters: 11 Infrastructure Projects declared eligible, approved, financially closed and fully disbursed, value projects financed US$3.9 billion, IDB Loan and Guarantee US$800.7 million. In which the projects included: the Campos Novos 880-MW Hydroelectric Power Project, the Novatrans Transmission Line, the Bandeirante’s Electricity Distribution Project, the Moema Biofuels Project, and participated in the IDB’s 1st Political Risk Guarantee to VBC Energy in Brazil, amongst others.

Prior to joining the Structured and Corporate Finance Department, Mr. Alves worked in the Finance and Infrastructure Divisions of the IDB, at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and at The World Bank.

Mr. Alves has been an energy and structured finance speaker in over 100 conferences; Additionally, Mr. Alves through the IDB, hosted three Energy Ministerial including the Caribbean Energy Ministerial (December 2013); the Central America Energy Ministerial (March 2013); and the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Ministerial (April 2010). Most recently, Mr. Alves has been asked by the US White House to participate on energy matters in the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico (April 2014).

Mr. Alves has co-authored publications at the World Bank the IDB and various articles and books, most recently publications include: “Societal Benefits from Renewable Energy Latin America and the Caribbean”, IDB Technical Note IDB-TN-623 (January 2014); and “Rethinking Our Energy Future” IDB Discussion Paper IDB-DP-292 (June 2013).

Mr. Alves holds a Bachelors of Arts in Economics from the University of Maryland, a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and a Masters in Information Management from Marymount University, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the George Washington University.