Mario Buisán is the Trade Commissioner of the Embassy of Spain in Miami, Florida. He is responsible for commercial promotion of Spanish goods into the US market, and strengthening business relations and Spanish investments in this area. From 2004 to 2009, he was Director General of Information and Investments at the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX). Prior to this, he was Deputy Director General of International Affairs at Banco de España. He also worked at the MIGA Agency of World Bank. He was a former Trade Commissioner of Spain in Düsseldorf, Germany and has occupied several positions in the Ministry of Economics and Finance.
Mr. Buisán was an Associate Professor of Applied Economics at Carlos III University in Madrid and a Professor at the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública and at the Centro de Estudios Comerciales. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of: Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo, S.A. (COFIDES); Sociedad Estatal Española P4R, S.A. (company specializing in foreign trade); and, SAECA (business based on the issuance of bank guarantees for investments in the agricultural sector). Mr. Buisán holds a double Major in Economic and Business Sciences, and a Law Degree. He is a member of the State Economists and Trade Exports Body of the Spanish Government. He often lectures in several forums about the globalization of the Spanish economy and businesses. He has written several articles on business and economic globalization; financial, commercial and European Union interests.
Lorraine McCord is the Creative Director and Founder of Xworks Project an online international business blog, training and consulting platform. Prior to starting Xworks Project, she served for 10 years as the Director of the North Texas International Trade Center SBDC where she was responsible for providing training, counseling and market research services to businesses in the North Texas areas as well as managing a team of advisors who helped hundreds of companies achieve export sales totaling $50 million. She has more than 10 years experience working for Fortune 500 companies such as EDS and Regions Bank in strategy and planning, international finance and internal audit. Lorraine has worked and traveled extensively in the Asia Pacific region and has spoken extensively at national and international conferences on the topics of small business and international trade. She currently serves on the faculty of Richland College’s International Business and Trade division. Lorraine previously served on the board of governors of the North American Small Business and International Trade Educators (NASBITE) and the Dallas Furniture Bank. She holds a MBA in International Management from Thunderbird in Glendale, AZ and is both a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP).
