who I am - Jose Cordeiro

A Brief Heading

My story

José Luis Cordeiro is a world citizen in our small planet in a big unknown universe. He was born in Latin America, from European parents, was educated in Europe and North America, and has worked extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. He has studied, visited, and worked in over 130 countries in 5 continents.

Mr. Cordeiro studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, where he received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) degrees in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor concentration in Economics and Languages. His thesis consisted of a dynamic modeling for NASA’s “Freedom” Space Station (the “International” Space Station of today). He later studied International Economics and Comparative Politics at Georgetown University in Washington, USA, and then obtained his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France, where he majored in Finance and Globalization. During his studies, Mr. Cordeiro worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria, and with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, USA. He started his doctoral degree at MIT, which he continued later in Tokyo, Japan, and finally received his PhD at Universidad Simón Bolívar (USB) in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a honorary member of Sigma Beta Delta (ΣΒΔ, Business and Management), lifetime member of Sigma Xi (ΣΞ, Scientific Research) and Tau Beta Pi (ТΒΠ, Engineering) Honor Societies in North America, is also a honorary member of the Venezuelan Engineers College (CIV), his name has been included in the Marquis Edition of Who’s Who in the World, and has received multiples awards like from the Instituto Europeo.

My expertise

Following his graduation, Mr. Cordeiro worked as an engineer in petroleum exploration for the French company Schlumberger. For several years, he served as an advisor for many of the major oil companies in the world, including Agip, BP, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, PDVSA, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Shell and Total. Later, in Paris, he initiated his relation with the international consulting company Booz-Allen & Hamilton, where he specialized in the areas of strategy, finance and restructuring.

In Latin America, served as an advisor for some of the most important regional corporations and has taken part in the transformation and privatization of a number of oil companies in the continent. His experience and studies in monetary policy, currency boards, dollarization and monetary unions have taken him to participate in several monetary changes in Eastern Europe and Latin America (most famously in Ecuador, where he is publicly recognized as one of the main promoters of dollarization).

Besides his extensive work as an expert in economic policy, he has also worked as an energy advisor in several Latin American countries, particularly in the privatization of Petroperú, and the technology policies of Honduras, Panamá, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. He is also a space enthusiast, and was one the first “Astrolanders” for the first Mars analog mission “Made in Spain” by Astroland Agency. Mr. Cordeiro has also been involved in politics, for example, as an energy advisor during the 1998 Venezuelan presidential elections with candidate Irene Sáez Conde, former Mayor of Chacao, Caracas, and as a Spanish Candidate to the European Parliament in 2019.

A Brief Heading

works on

I am currently a director of the Millennium Project, director of Humanity Plus, fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, founding executive director of the Ibero-American Futurists Network RIBER, and member of the historic Ateneo de Madrid, where he is president of one its thematic sections. He was one of the original teaching fellows and advisers at Singularity University (SU) in NASA Ames Research Park, Silicon Valley, California, USA, where he worked during the first GSP programs during 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. He has lectured as an invited guest at several major institutions, including his alma mater MIT in the USA, Sophia University (上智大学) and the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE – JETRO) in Japan, Yonsei University in South Korea, the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Russia, and the Institute for Higher Studies in Administration (IESA) and the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he created the first formal courses of Futures Studies (“Prospectiva”) and the Austrian School of Economics in Venezuela. He is also an independent consultant, writer, researcher, professor and “tireless traveler”.

Mr. Cordeiro is founder and president emeritus of the Sociedad Mundial del Futuro Venezuela (SMFV, World Future Society Venezuela); cofounder of the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association and of the Internet Society (ISOC, Venezuela Chapter); board advisor to the Brain Preservation Foundation (BPF) and the Lifeboat Foundation; member of the Academic Committee of the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE) and the Foresight Europe Network (FEN); expert member of the TechCast Project and ShapingTomorrow; former director of the World Transhumanist Association (WTA, now Humanity+), the Extropy Institute (ExI), the Single Global Currency Association (SGCA), the Club of Rome (Venezuela Chapter, where he was active promoting classical liberal ideas and the idea of “World Opportunitique” beyond “World Problematique” and “World Resolutique”) and of the Association of Venezuelan Exporters (AVEX), where he participated in the original negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). He has also been advisor to the Venezuelan Business Association (AVE) and other companies and international organizations.

Thanks to his extensive work in technological foresight, futures studies, globalization, economic integration, long-term development, energy trends, education and monetary policy, Mr. Cordeiro has authored and coauthored several books. El Desafío Latinoamericano, his first book, was a continental bestseller originally published by McGraw-Hill and used in more than 100 universities in the hemisphere (see introductory pages). The second Spanish edition is now available completely free in electronic form by the author, who is also donating his book royalties. Arturo Uslar Pietri, the most universal and respected Venezuelan of the 20^th century, described the other two books of Mr. Cordeiro with the following words: “as important to Venezuela as the independence battle of Carabobo” (The Great Taboo) and “an impressive work that describes the grave economic malady… of Venezuela” (La Segunda Muerte de Bolívar). He has authored other books about Ecuador (La Segunda Muerte de Sucre) and Mexico (¿Pesos o Dólares?), and about special topics like education (Benesuela vs. Venezuela), energy (Cenários Energéticos 2020, in Portuguese) and transhumanism (2020: Transhuman & Economy of the Future, in Korean). Among his most recent books are Latinoamérica 2030 with the Millennium Project and his international bestseller La muerte de la muerte (The Death of Death), published in several languages like Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, with his British coauthor David Wood, coinventor of the Symbian operating system that was later acquired by Nokia. He has written more than 10 books and co-written over 20 more in five languages, including sections of the State of the Future with the Millennium Project, and his articles and books have been quoted by international publications like The Economist and The New York Times.

Mr. Cordeiro has a fortnightly opinion column in the largest and most prestigious Venezuelan general newspaper (El Universal) and has also written and has been interviewed in major media (press, radio and TV) including ABC, BBC, CNN, Chosun Ilbo (Korean Daily), El Comercio (Ecuador), El Comercio (Peru), El Tiempo (Colombia), El Universal (Mexico), El Universal (Venezuela), Los Andes (Argentina),O Estado de Sao Paulo (Brazil), Mainichi Shimbun (Japan Daily News), La Tribune (France), The New York Times, Univision and The Washington Times (USA). He has also participated in documentaries with Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic among several other international media network