Tuesday
End time
10.00 pm
Business Casual
Find it at:
1776 I St NW
President and Founder of the Fide Foundation
President and founder of Fide. She has been a lawyer from the Madrid Bar Association since 2000, having developed most of her career as a lawyer in the bankruptcy, procedural and corporate fields. She is an accredited mediator by CEDR, Center for Effective Dispute Resolution of London. She is a magistrate, a position she held from 1990 to 1999 when she requested a leave of absence. Throughout her professional life she has held different positions in private training institutions, she has founded research and study centers in the legal area and participated in different publications, training courses, and other activities related to the world of law and economics.
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Senior Managing Director and Head of Compass Lexecon Europe. Member of Fide’s Board of Trustees and Chair of Fide’s International Academic Council.
Senior Managing Director and Head of Compass Lexecon Europe. He is a Research Fellow at the Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros (CEMFI, Madrid) and teaches competition economics at the Executive Education program of the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE). He has given expert testimony before the competition authorities and courts of several EU member states, as well as in cases before the European Commission. Dr. Padilla has submitted written testimony to the European General Court, and the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal in cartel, merger control and abuse of dominance cases. He has also given expert testimony in various civil litigation (damages), international arbitration cases, and competition cases in non-EU jurisdictions (Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Israel, Jamaica, South Africa and Turkey). Dr. Padilla has written numerous papers on competition policy and industrial organization. He is also co-author of The Law and Economics of Article 102 TFEU, 3rd edition, Hart Publishing, 2020. Member of Fide’s Board of Trustees and Chair of Fide’s International Academic Council.
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General Director of the Fide Foundation
Director General of the Foundation for Research on Law and Business (FIDE). She graduated in Law from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1993-1998). Master’s Degree in Legal Advice from the Instituto de Empresa (2000). Manager of Open Programs at the Instituto de Empresa (2000-2007). She has been coordinator of the Justice and Business Observatory (2004-2007). Coordinator of the work «The new Bankruptcy regulation», Ed. Colex (2004)
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Academic Director of the Fide Foundation
Fide Academic Director. Coordinator of the International Academic Council of Fide. Bachelor of Information Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid (U.C.M) 1994. Previously, she held positions of various responsibilities at the Institute for Business Development (IFE), as Director of Programs (1996-1998), Director of Marketing (1998-2004) , Deputy Director General (2004-2010).
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Lead Financial Economist in the Latin American and Caribbean Region of the World Bank. Member of Fide’s International Academic Council.
Lead Financial Economist in the Latin American and Caribbean Region of the World Bank. She co-chairs the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Community of Practice (COP) at the World Bank and previously lead the State-Owned Financial Institutions COP. She has worked on State-owned Bank reform in many countries through advisory and lending operations including, Brazil, Mexico, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. She has published several articles on various financial topics including reforming development and cooperative banks. Before joining the World Bank, she worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with a focus on macro-financial issues. She holds a Ph, D in Economics from Boston University and a Master in Financial Economics from the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies (CEMFI) in Madrid. Member of Fide’s International Academic Council.
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Spanish attorney, economist, and scholar based in New York . Member of Fide’s International Academic Council.
Spanish attorney, economist, and scholar based in New York with a decade of experience in commercial and investment arbitration, mediation, and transnational litigation. Jesús has participated as counsel in over 25 arbitrations seated in Madrid, Paris, Buenos Aires, and Washington, D.C., among other cities, both ad hoc and under the rules of arbitral institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC,) the Madrid Court of Arbitration, and the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID.)
He has acted as an observer for the New York International Arbitration Center in Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (2019-22.) He has also been the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum representative for Spain, Portugal, and Andorra (2019-21.) Additionally, he has served as a secretary of the International Bar Association (IBA) Task Force for the Revision of the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration (2019-21) and of the IBA Arbitration Guidelines and Rules Subcommittee (2018-21.)
Jesús has been a visiting lecturer at universities including Fordham University School of Law (New York,) Jindal Global Law School (Sonipat,) and Universidad Carlos III (Madrid.)
He received his LL.B. (with distinction) and B.S. in Finance from Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICAI-ICADE and his LL.M. (with honors) from Columbia Law School as a ”la Caixa” Foundation Fellow.
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Integrity Compliance Analyst at the WORLD BANK GROUP
Patricia Coll is an Integrity Compliance Analyst, seconded by the Spanish Government, within the Integrity Vice Presidency at the World Bank. Patricia collaborates with World Bank sanctioned companies and assists them in meeting the compliance conditions for their release.
Before joining the World Bank, she worked as an Investment and Trade Advisor at the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in Morocco. Prior to that, she was an immigration lawyer in Spain.
Patricia is a Spanish lawyer by Universitat Pompeu Fabra and holds an MBA in International Management from ICEX (Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade).
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Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Spain in the US
Since September, Clara Crespo is the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Spain in the US, where she specializes in economic and financial affairs, including energy.
She is a chartered economist of the Spanish civil service (member of the Cuerpo Superior de Técnicos Comerciales y Economistas del Estado since 2005). Previously, Clara worked at the Treasury in Spain, where she was responsible for International Monetary Fund affairs and the G20 finance track, for the relation of Spain as a shareholder and donor of multilateral development banks, and, between 2005 and 2014, she specialized in European economic governance and policies and institutions dealing with the euro area crisis.
Clara holds a Masters’s degree in European Studies from the London School of Economics and a Licenciatura in Economics from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
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Corporate Area at Pérez-Llorca Abogados, S.L.P.
José Luis is currently part of the Pérez-Llorca Corporate Area in the New York office. He belongs to the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Madrid (ICAM). He joined Pérez-Llorca in September 2018. Prior to joining, he was part of the Regulatory and Corporate/Banking and Finance departments of two renowned law firms.
Master’s degree for access to the legal profession, University of Navarra. Extraordinary Award – Cum laude. Diploma in International Business Law, University of Navarra. Degree in Law, University of Navarra. Graduated with honors. His working languages are Spanish and English.
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Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund
Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. Senior civil servant with more than ten years of experience issuing and managing Spain’s sovereign debt in the international capital markets, representing the Spanish Treasury in international public and private-sector forums. Spain’s banking and financial market regulation, AML-TF effort. Strong administrative professional, highly skilled in Government, Fixed Income products, Macroeconomics, Investor Relations and Communication.
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Senior Director of A&M’s Sovereign Advisory Services in Washington, DC
Senior Director of A&M’s Sovereign Advisory Services in Washington, DC, and brings more than 15 years of experience working on sovereign debt issues, frequently working directly with government authorities to advise them on debt management, fiscal risks, and financing strategies. Prior to joining A&M, Dr. Dielmann was a Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Global Macro and Debt unit where he led the World Bank’s analytical work on debt vulnerabilities in Middle-Income Countries. He also served as a lead DSA reviewer for LowIncome Countries, debt sustainability instructor under the Debt Management Facility, a Paris Club representative for the World Bank, and the restructuring lead for both Sri Lanka and Ghana. He previously served as the Executive Director of Potomac Group, a DC-based sovereign advisory firm, and the Director of Macroeconomic and Sovereign Research at Exotix Capital in London & New York. Prior to this, he spent 4 years as lead analyst for debt sustainability analysis in the Debt Policy Division in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund. He holds an MA, MIPP, and Doctor of International Affairs degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA), chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA), and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Market Managing Partner for tax services in the Greater Washington D.C. market at BDO USA
Market Managing Partner for tax services in the Greater Washington D.C. market at BDO. He is responsible for the operations of the McLean and Greater Baltimore tax practices which serves clients in various industries including Technology, Life Sciences, Real Estate and Construction, Manufacturing, Government Contracting, Healthcare and Nonprofit. He is responsible for overseeing the growth and people strategies for the market.
he has extensive experience providing tax compliance and consulting services primarily to companies organized as Partnerships. His client base consists of real estate developers, private equity holding companies and professional service firms.
In 2021, he was recognized by Accounting Today as a Top 40 Under 40 Black CPA in the country. He has also been recognized by Bloomberg Tax as a Tax Pro, which included a featured article.
Prior to joining BDO USA, LLP (BDO), Nick worked at a Big Four firm in the corporate tax group, where his main responsibilities included providing tax compliance services for private and publicly traded companies.
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Member of Latham & Watkins’ Executive Committee and a member of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice
Member of Latham & Watkins’ Executive Committee and a member of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice. He represents clients in a broad range of competition and antitrust law matters, with a particular emphasis on defending and clearing mergers and acquisitions before the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the US Federal Trade Commission, as well as the European Commission, and antitrust authorities worldwide. He is a recognized leader in winning worldwide clearances of large strategic transactions. Mr. Egge served as co-Chair of Latham’s global antitrust practice for 9 years and was instrumental in expanding Latham’s antitrust practice globally to more than 60 partners and counsel worldwide. In that capacity Mr. Egge spent 3 years, from 2012-15, resident in the firm’s Brussels office, expanding Latham’s European antitrust practice. Prior to being elected to the firm’s global Executive Committee, Mr. Egge was Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins’ 500-lawyer Washington Office. Mr. Egge is active in the leadership of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Egge received his B.A. in Economics with High Honors from the College of William and Mary in 1988 and his J.D. in 1991 from the University of Virginia School of Law where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review and its managing board. Mr. Egge speaks Spanish thanks to his Spanish heritage (his mother is from Madrid Spain) and has had the good fortune of visiting Spain frequently for business and pleasure. Mr. Egge is a Washington area native, and today lives in Arlington with his wife April. They have three children, Olivia, Luke and Sophia.
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Program Manager for Internal Investigations in the World Bank Group Integrity Vice Presidency
Katja Eichinger is the Program Manager for Internal Investigations in the World Bank Group Integrity Vice Presidency. Ms. Eichinger oversees international fraud and corruption investigations involving World Bank Group employees and corporate vendors.
Prior to joining the World Bank Group Integrity Vice Presidency, Ms. Eichinger held positions in the United States government in investigative, litigation, and policy capacities including as Counsel for the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics which investigates allegations of misconduct by United States Senators, officers, and employees. Ms. Eichinger also served as a litigation attorney in the United States Department of Justice Civil Tax Division and clerked for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Ms. Eichinger is a US-trained lawyer. She was born and raised in Germany.
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Indian attorney and scholar based out of New York / Washington DC
Samarth Khanna is an Indian attorney and scholar based out of New York / Washington DC. With over five years of experience and close to 75 reported judgements to his name, Samarth is a practicing attorney before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India where, he represents and advises corporations and individual clients on commercial civil and criminal matters. He has also had the opportunity to assist the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in three, court-appointed amicus briefs.
Samarth got his LLB from Symbiosis law School, Pune in 2016 where he graduated as top-ranking member of his class and received his LLM from Columbia Law School graduating as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Currently, he is a summer associate with Shearman and Sterling LLP and a 3L JD candidate at Columbia Law School.
Samarth has been a visiting lecturer at various universities including Symbiosis University, Pune and Christ University, Bangalore.
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Competition Policy Director at Meta Platforms
Competition Policy Director at Meta Platforms. Previously an associate in the Community and Competition Law department of Lovells LLP, where she joined after having provided services for another firm specializing in Competition Law in Madrid. She has experience representing multinational and Spanish companies before the competition authorities. In addition, she advises companies on all aspects related to commercial policies and their compatibility with Competition Law. She also advises on mergers, distribution contracts and surprise investigations carried out by the competition authorities. She holds an LL.M. from the College of Europe in Bruges.
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Managing Director at FTI Consulting
Carl Meacham is a Managing Director at FTI Consulting, and he is based in Washington, D.C. He works with clients on cross-border issues related to trade, international relations, political risk management and public affairs with a focus on Latin America.
Prior to FTI, Mr. Meacham led PhRMA’s advocacy efforts for Latin America, Canada, and Europe where he worked on market development, regulatory frameworks, and IP to strengthen patient access to life-saving therapies. Before that, he was the Senior Manager for Public Policy and Government Relations for Uber in South America and before that he was Director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), where he advised policymakers and private sector executives on the region’s political, security and trade issues. Prior, Mr. Meacham served over a decade on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) as Senator Richard Lugar’s (R-IN) senior professional staffer for Latin America. He also worked for Senate Majority Leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Harry Reid (D-NV), and at the U.S. Department of Commerce as a political appointee in the Clinton administration.
Mr. Meacham has a B.A. from the University of Albany, State University of New York & M.A. degrees from Columbia University & American University. He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Meacham is also a native speaker of Spanish and though born in the United States, was partly raised in Chile, his mother’s country of origin
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Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank
Vinda Montes, a Spanish National, is Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank. She joined the World Bank in 2007 as a credit reporting systems specialist and since then has supported policy reforms in more than 80 countries worldwide involving the development or enhancement of credit reporting systems, payment systems, financial consumer protection, digital identification, e-KYC, data protection, open finance, privacy, and cybersecurity.
Vinda also served as Lead Secretariat to the International Committee on Credit Reporting (ICCR) from its inception in 2009 till January 2018 and from 2018-2021 co-chaired the Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI) working group on cybersecurity for financial infrastructure and the FIGI working group on Digital Identity. In 2016, she co-authored the book “Responsible Finance and Credit Reporting Systems” which focuses on the links between insolvency and credit information. She contributes regularly to G20, FSB, FATF, and other international policymakers on analytical work related to payment systems, data protection, digital identity Fintech, and credit reporting.
Before joining the World Bank, she was legal director at Experian Spain, where she was responsible for the compliance unit of the credit bureau and value-added services business lines. She also served on the board of World Central Kitchen from 2013 to 2018 and as the founding Executive Director from 2010 to 2013.
Ms. Montes earned her five-year degree in Law at the Universidad Complutense and studied Political Science at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Madrid. Additionally, she holds a Masters’s degree in Data Protection and New Technologies Law and served as an exchange student at Universiteit Instelling Antwerpen, Belgium focusing on EU comparative law.
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Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO)
Joined the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) as Director in May 2023. Prior to the IEO, he served in several senior positions throughout the Spanish public administration, including at the Ministry of Economy, the Economic Office of the President of the Government, and the Banco de España, where he was Director of the Governor’s Office and Head of the International Financial Organizations Division. Pablo also served at the IMF’s Executive Board on two separate occasions (2002–2006, and 2018–2022), including as Executive Director (2020–2022) representing Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Spain.
Correspondent for the newspaper El Mundo in Washington
I am a bilingual award-winning journalist and consultant with a passion for understanding and explaining the world we live in.
For more than 25 years, I have been covering and analyzing cutting-edge trends at the intersection of international politics and markets in Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and the rest of the world. From Davos to the White House Press Room, from G20 Summits to the Democratic and Republican Conventions, and from the Texas desert to Fort McMurray in Alberta (Canada), I have focused on the big issues that define today’s global political and economic landscape.
I have also gone beyond journalism, writing in-depth business intelligence and political risk reports for global financial institutions, leading energy companies, and major consulting firms (as long as there are no conflicts of interest with my work for El Mundo). My network of contacts has played a critical role in that activity, which I find intellectually very stimulating.
My work has made me wonder how media and other organizations with a relevant socio-political role (such as think tanks) influence public opinion. I delved into this topic through a Ph.D. in Communications with a dissertation on agenda-setting — this is, how the news permeates society and influences it (and they are, in turn, influenced by society).
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Partner at Cuatrecasas
Partner at Cuatrecasas. He regularly advises Spanish and international companies and funds on all aspects of commercial law and mergers and acquisitions. He is also involved in investment and joint venture agreements, as well as in corporate group restructurings. He participates as a speaker in courses and training sessions on commercial law. He is secretary and deputy secretary non-director of the board of directors of several companies and a member of the Madrid Bar Association. Between 2015 and 2016, he worked in the New York office of the US firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.
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Lawyer at The World Bank | Digital Regulations
Elena Puche is a lawyer with over 5 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She currently works as a legal advisor at the World Bank, where she closely collaborates with various governments, including Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, among others. Her focus is on improving the regulatory environment and promoting the prosperity of the private sector in developing countries. Elena has extensive experience in digital legislation, encompassing topics such as consumer protection, data protection, and policy design to drive the private sector. She is recognized for her ability to establish strong relationships with key stakeholders in governments and the private sector, and she is committed to driving economic growth and sustainable development in these countries.
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Advisor to the Sanctions Officer at Inter-American Development Bank.
Rosa Rodriguez is a legal advisor to the Sanctions Officer of the Inter-American Development Bank Group.
Mrs. Rodriguez specializes in government and administrative law, and has advanced degrees from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales de Madrid, and the Universidad Central de Venezuela. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in anti-corruption compliance and collective action at the International Anti-Corruption Academy (Vienna, Austria).
Before joining the IDB Group, Mrs. Rodriguez assisted clients with matters involving regulatory compliance and foreign bribery laws, among others. She also co-directed a Venezuelan nongovernmental organization that promotes the rule of law to foster freedom and progress.
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Senior Advisor of the Digital Finance Department at the Institute of International Finance – IIF
Senior Advisor of the Digital Finance Department at the IIF. She joined IIF in 2023. Previously, she served as Group Head of Legal for Technology and Digital at Banco Santander, where she was in charge, alongside with her team, of the legal advice to technology areas (technology contracts, joint ventures and projects, digital banking and digital and financial regulation, data, privacy and IP). She has been the Secretary to the Board of Directors of Santander Digital Services (formerly Santander Global Technologies), amongst other companies. Gloria´s earlier experience included working as associate lawyer at Clifford Chance, as well as being the Head of Legal for Real Estate, Equity Participations and Portfolio Sales at Banco Santander. She held different positions as member of the faculty in different universities and business schools, such as IE Law School, Bucerius Law School (Hamburg), MIT Professional Education, ESADE (Barcelona), Universidad Complutense, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, ISDE, and Carlos III University in Madrid.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Amongst other education certificates, she holds an LLM on Digital Law from Universidad de Salamanca. She speaks English, Spanish and French.
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Assurance Partner, International Services BDO USA
Michele has over 20 years of international professional experience in public accounting and industry combined. Michele possesses extensive experience with audits of both publicly-traded and privately-held companies primarily within the manufacturing, automotive and technology industries. At BDO, Michele serves as the liaison between the US and various European countries.
Prior to joining BDO, Michele served as senior audit manager at various prominent public accounting firms in the United States and Germany. She was also the financial planning manager at a large healthcare system and senior manager of the global revenue governance team at an international, publicly-traded telecommunications company. Her experience at both companies directly complements the services she provides to BDO clients. Michele launched her career with a global accounting firm, where she built a strong technical foundation conducting and managing audits and reviews for publicly-traded and privately-held clients.
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Executive Director, Head of Government Relations and Public/Regulatory Policy for Santander US
Jesse O. Villarreal serves as Executive Director, Head of Government Relations and Public/Regulatory Policy for Santander US.
In this role, Mr. Villarreal leads Santander’s government relations and public policy efforts in the U.S. Prior to joining Santander in 2012, Mr. Villarreal served more than ten years in various capacities in the United States federal government, including positions at the Department of the Treasury, the White House and at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Mr. Villarreal served for nearly five years as Chief of Staff to former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair where he played a significant part in the FDIC leadership team as it developed responses to the global economic crisis. At the Treasury Department, Mr. Villarreal served as the Director for the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy as well as the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets.
In addition to his public service experience, Mr. Villarreal began his career in the financial services industry at JPMorgan Chase and Texas Commerce Bank/Chase Manhattan.
Mr. Villarreal holds a BBA degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Managing Partner of the NYC office of Uría Menéndez
Joined Uría Menéndez in 2010 and was named partner in 2021. Since September 2021, he is the managing partner of the NYC office of Uría Menéndez. Between January and December 2013, he was based in Uría Menéndez’s office in São Paulo (Brazil). From September 2018 to August 2019 he joined the M&A team at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York as a foreign associate attorney. He has over 12 years of experience advising on M&A and finance transactions, mainly in the energy, infrastructure and real estate sectors. He focuses his practice on corporate, acquisition and project finance as well as restructuring, sales and acquisitions and PPAs in the energy sector, and sales and acquisitions of non-strategic assets of financial institutions, such as non-performing loans, real estate assets and property management platforms.
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Should you need it, please find here all the contact information of our Team Members in Washington DC. Don’t hesitate to contact them for anything regarding the dinner and other inquiries. They’ll be available via email, WhatsApp, and Social Media.
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Taberna Del Alabardero is a traditional Spanish restaurant, founded in 1974 in Madrid and bringing the flavors of Spain to Washington since 1989!
This piece of Spain, just steps from The White House, will transport you to an elegant and royal atmosphere surrounded by friendly faces, an engaging menu and world-renowned wines.
Taberna’s seasonal menu features classic tapas, luscious paellas, refreshing sangria, and delicious desserts, as well as vegetarian and gluten-free options.
IMPORTANT: +
Please alert us if you have any dietary restrictions due to a food allergy or intolerance. Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free, and Kosher accommodations are available upon request. Send us your preference ASAP.