Guillermo Lasso

Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (born 16 November 1955) is an Ecuadorian businessman and politician.

During the 1990s, Lasso was named the head of operations in Ecuador for Coca-Cola, following the local bankruptcy of the company in that region. In this role, Lasso was tasked with restructuring the company and bringing it back to financial health. He has since sat on the boards of directors for both Coca-Cola, and Mavesa, and also served as Chairman of the board of directors of the Guayas Transit Commission as well as being a member of the Board of Directors of the Andean Development Corporation.

In 1994 Lasso became the CEO of Banco Guayaquil. As a part of his tenure, he founded the Bancos del Barrio program, a community banking initiative that brought in local shopkeepers as economic partners with the bank in planning and strategy. The program was cited by the Inter-American Development Bank as an advancement in grassroots banking penetration strategy. He resigned from his post as Executive President in 2012. Lasso is also the founder of the Fundacion del Barrio.

In 2011 Lasso published the book Cartas a Mis Hijos, which translates to Letters to my Children, which contains lessons he developed from his time working in business and highlights recommendations for the economic development of Ecuador. Among his ideas, Lasso discusses the need for greater sovereignty over parts of the national economy. The book advocates for the Ecuadorian government to develop policies that create more economic opportunities for its citizens. Soon after its release, former Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar, who stated the book held key insights into what is needed for development. During the book launch event, former Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa was present to show support for the project, along with other federal politicians. Following its publications, Lasso performed policy speeches, and used the plans in the book as a basis for a presidential political campaign. In 2012 he then published the book Otro Ecuador Es Posible.

In 1998, Lasso was appointed the Governor of Guayas, during which the national government underwent a mass privatization of public companies and industries. Ecuador went through an economic collapse in 1999, following which, Lasso was temporarily appointed to the newly created position of “Super Minister” of Economy, replacing the resigning Ana Lucia Armijos. As finance minister, he served under President Jamil Mahuad and took over negotiations with the International Monetary Fund in earning economic support. He was also tasked with coordinating government policy in response to the country's economic crisis.

In the 2013 Ecuadorian general election he was presidential candidate for the party Creating Opportunities, which he founded. He landed in second place with 22.68% of valid votes but as incumbent President Rafael Correa received more than double that amount, namely 57.17%. Lasso is, through a trust named with his initials, GLM, the largest share holder in Banco de Guayaquil, where he has been executive president for more than 20 years.

In early 2017, Lasso launched his second presidential campaign to succeed incumbent President Correa for the conservative Creating Opportunities party in the 2017 presidential elections, as Correa had already served his two-term constitutionally defined limit. His campaign's theme was one of "change" and he pledged to create one million more jobs in Ecuador. Lasso received 48.84% and lost to Lenín Moreno. Following the result, Lasso accused his opponents of electoral fraud and called the incoming administration “illegitimate”. In February 2017, Lasso said in an interview with a British newspaper that in case of his victory in the presidential election he would “cordially ask” Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London within 30 days.

Lasso graduated from the College of San José La Salle. According to information from the Inspectorate of Banks of Panamá, Guillermo Lasso was associated with forty-nine offshore companies located in tax havens between 1999 and 2000. He made $30 million on bond speculation during this period.