America Movil’s Garcia CFO Of the Year

BY DAVID AGREN

MEXICO CITY – Mexico-based America Movil has expanded dramatically the past decade and now is the top technology company in Latin America, with 2010 revenues of $49.2 billion. In the midst of that expansion has been Carlos Garcia Moreno, the company’s chief financial officer since 2001.

As a result, he is the recipient of the first CFO Award by Latin Trade, a business magazine with 160,000 readers in Latin America. Latin Trade is published by the Latin Trade Group, which also publishes Latin Business Chronicle.

“Latin Trade would like to acknowledge the success of Dr. Garcia Moreno for handling impressive expansion driven both by organic growth and acquisitions and for handling the complex challenges of implementing a mega-merger,” says Joachim Bamrud, executive editor of the Latin Trade Group.

Apart from administrating the fast-growing company’s finances, Garcia Moreno has played a key role in keeping investors informed about the firm’s plans and results.

“The CFO has to be the link between the company and the market,” Garcia Moreno said during his acceptance speech at a LT CFO Event here. “He has to convey the feelings of the company to the market, he has to convey to the company feelings of the market. That point is very important. …I have relationships with many investors, with the market so that’s a function of what's reflected in this award.”

The LT CFO Events are held twice a year in both Mexico City and Sao Paulo and three times a year in Miami.

Garcia Moreno studied economics at the Universidad Anahuac and earned a doctorate in economics at Cornell University. His early career was spent at Pemex, where he oversaw the oil company’s return to the international banking and bond markets in the 1990s. After a few years as an investment banker, he joined the Ministry of Finance in 1997 as the Director General of Public Credit. Garcia Moreno left government service to rejoin the private sector in 2001, as the CFO of America Movil.

Last year the company took a major step with the announcement that sister companies Carso Global Telecom and Telmex International would be integrated under America Movil’s flag. That deal has positioned America Movil for additional growth in the hemisphere.

In addition to its strong growth and healthy financials, Garcia Moreno believes the success of America Movil is due to its clear communication with the market.

“We’ve always thought that the relationship with the market is very important, understanding what is possible, what can be financed, what’s going to be viewed well, what’s not going to viewed well by investors, what we looking for, what we’re not looking for,” he said. “It’s very important that the company has clarity in this respect…In the way you make decisions, you have to communicate this well to the market. It’s one thing to be doing things correctly, but not explaining it to the market and having people not understanding it. We have an obligation with the market to explain our decisions and to regularly give them the reports that allows them to see the progress the company is making,”--With additional reporting by Mary Sutter in Miami.