José Luis Curbelo
Operating Partner and member of the Advisory Board
What is your experience?
I am an economist with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. My education is complemented by specialized studies in economics and finance at Harvard, Oxford, UCLA, the Amsterdam Institute of Finance, and the World Bank.
Currently, I am the Non-Executive Chairman of AESC-Battery Spain, a Japanese multinational developing a state-of-the-art battery gigafactory in Spain (Navalmoral, Cáceres). Previously, I was the President and CEO of COFIDES (Spanish Development Finance Company), managing various public funds dedicated to investing in Spanish companies aligned with public policy priorities. Under my leadership, COFIDES quintupled the funds under management, reaching approximately 6 billion euros, and became established as Spain’s Sovereign Fund. Currently, through its various funds (FIEX, FONPYME, FIS, FOCO, FONREC, among others), the company leads strategic investments in climate projects, impact investing, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), and the internationalization of Spanish companies.
For a decade, I worked in multilateral banking, where I was Vice President and Chief Economist of the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), as well as Head of the SME Development Unit at the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (FOMIN-IDB) in Washington, D.C. In this latter role, I oversaw the financing of the first generation of private equity funds in Latin America and the development of the first microfinance projects.
In parallel to my work in finance, I have always maintained ties with the academic world. I have been a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Public Policy of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Law at Camilo José Cela University, and Director General of the Basque Institute of Competitiveness (Orkestra) at the University of Deusto. Additionally, I have taught economics, finance, and strategy at several Spanish and international universities.
What do you see as different about Nazca?
Nazca has a human team that has demonstrated exceptional results for more than two decades, successfully navigating various phases of the economic cycle. I particularly highlight the ability of its management team to identify long-term business trends and structure portfolios that maximize value creation.
I greatly value Nazca’s leadership in exploring new sectors aligned with the future growth of the economy, such as biotechnology, health and medicine; deep tech, digitalization, and artificial intelligence; renewable energy and sustainability; as well as in the aerospace, security, and defense sectors. I also emphasize its commitment to the highest ESG standards.