Latin American and the Caribbean - Board Members
Carol Maxine Mates
Carol Mates is a recognized expert in project finance, particularly project finance in developing countries. She has over thirty years' experience in the practice of business and financial law, with an emphasis on international finance.
Ms. Mates is currently Principal Counsel in the Legal Department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington, D.C., an international financial organization which is the private sector affiliate of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), where she has practiced since 1981. She has been actively involved in legal and policy aspects of project finance, including private infrastructure projects, restructurings, privatizations and private equity funds for the last several years.
At IFC, Ms. Mates specializes in project finance ventures and infrastructure projects in Latin America and worldwide. She has extensive experience structuring, documenting and advising on debt and equity aspects of project finance transactions, syndication of loans with banks in Asia, Europe and the United States, as well as co-financing arrangements with bilateral and other multilateral development agencies and local commercial and development banks.
Her previous experience includes several years of private practice in New York representing various corporate and banking clients and with Bank of Boston (now Bank of America), where she served as counsel in its legal department and subsequently as special assistant to an Executive Vice President, handling a variety of domestic and international financing and bank regulatory matters. Her financing experience includes negotiating, drafting and closing complex domestic and cross-border loan transactions as well as joint ventures and Euro-debt and equity offerings.
Ms. Mates is a frequent speaker on project finance and private sector infrastructure financing. She is active in several professional associations, including leadership positions with the American Bar Association's Section of International Law and Practice. She also teaches or has taught in the graduate legal programs of the Boston University School of Law-Morin Banking Law Center and the Georgetown University Law Center.
Ms. Mates received an A.B. from Barnard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She is admitted to the bars of the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Allan Van Fleet
Allan Van Fleet is head of Greenberg Traurig's Houston litigation section and a co-leader of the firm's national antitrust litigation practice. His practice areas also include complex commercial and technical litigation, international litigation and arbitration, and legal ethics.
Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig's new Houston office in 2006, Van Fleet was a partner with Vinson & Elkins, where he worked for 28 years and was chair of the firm's Antitrust Practice Group.
He is recognized nationally and internationally in the Best Lawyers in America; Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers and The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers. Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers singled Allan out as a "thoughtful and knowledgeable commercial litigation attorney"
and "top flight counselor."
PLC Which Lawyer? recognizes Allan not only as a leading competition lawyer, but also among the top 25 "highly recommended" litigators in Texas.
Texas Monthly magazine dubs Allan a "Texas Super Lawyer" in Antitrust Litigation, among the top 10 lawyers in Texas.
Allan has represented large and small companies in a variety of industries, including computers and components, telecommunications, biotechnology, health care, foods and beverages, energy, oilfield services, pipelines, railroads, airlines, steel, glassmaking, concrete and cement, accounting, financial services, insurance, legal services, and entertainment. He has tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants across the country and internationally. His antitrust practice includes, in addition to litigation, developing compliance programs; providing advice on transactions; structuring mergers and acquisitions; and representing clients before federal, state, and international agencies.
