According to the White House:

Jean Elizabeth Manes, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Civilian Deputy to the Commander and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. Southern Command, a position she has held since 2019. Previously, Manes served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 2016 to 2019. She has served domestically at the U.S. Department of State as Principal Deputy Coordinator for the Bureau of International Information Programs and as Director of Resources for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Her overseas assignments include Public Affairs Officer in Afghanistan; Principal Officer in the Azores, Portugal; and assignments in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Syria. She is the recipient of a Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, five Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards, multiple Superior Honor Awards, was named Public Diplomacy Professional of the Year and was the recipient of the Lois Roth Award for Excellence in Education and Cultural Diplomacy.

A native of Florida, Manes speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. She has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from American University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Policy from Liberty University in Virginia.

Headline photo: Then US Ambassador in El Salvador, Jean Elizabeth Manes at a Beyond the Horizon 2018 school construction site in the area of Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, June 15, 2018. The original school building was cluttered with debris such as scrap metal, wood and trash. The 15th of June is the day that is officially recognized by both governments as the day of US and Salvadoran friendship. (US Army photo by Sgt. Walter H. Lowell)

Procaps Group CFO Patricio Vargas

“Melissa brings a broad range of investor relations and capital markets experience at pharma companies that will benefit Procaps as we accelerate the delivery of our innovative pharmaceutical solutions and drive new expansion initiatives. Importantly, this new position will eventually be based out of our Aventura, Florida location as we expand our footprint in the U.S.,” said Vargas. “Melissa is a deeply experienced and respected investor relations professional, and her expertise working to communicate our strategy and growth opportunities externally will be instrumental as we continue to strengthen our investor and industry relationships with key stakeholders.”

According to Procaps, Angelini previously served as Innovation & Investor Relations Officer at Brazilian multinational pharmaceutical company Blau Farmacêutica, and was also LATAM Head of Alliance Management & Investor Relations at healthcare firm GBT Grupo Biotoscana where she co-led the IPO of the  group in 2017 through a $429 million USD deal.

Angelini was also Investor Relations Client Executive Manager at investor relations firm MZ Group, where she was responsible for the Investor Relations and Strategic Partnerships Department. Angelini holds an MBA in Finance from Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa, Brazil, and is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

“I am honored to be joining Procaps at such an exciting inflection point for the company. With their recent entrance to the U.S. on Nasdaq, and announcement of expanded production capacity in the U.S., I will be highly focused on communicating the Procaps story to a broadening group of worldwide investors and shareholders,” said Angelini in a statement.

“This is one of our bets for the region in disruptive technologies, local talent and skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In times as challenging as this of COVID-19, investment in areas such as customer service and training in new skills is vital”, said Ana Paula Assis, General Manager of IBM Latin America.

Through this center, IBM will digitally manage, optimize and reinvent corporate processes and services to its clients, by using data analytics, cloud, artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain and other disruptive exponential technologies.

At the ‘Cognitive Transformation Center’, IBM will manage the end to end processes, including:

• Finance and administration: Billing, accounting, accounts payable, reports, treasury, among others
• Human Resources
• Procurement: Tactical and strategic support, as well as management of operational (transactional) procurement.
• Customer service and revenue cycle: Third party management, complaints and claims solution, reading, collection, billing, project management, collections and knowledge management.

The transformation driven by cognitive processes is one of the pillars of the growth of IBM Services, and one of the company’s main priorities in Latin America. The vendor expects improvements in customer satisfaction, agility in decision-making, reduced costs for the company, which means that the internal team can focus on more strategic activities.

“This great center, the largest IBM in the region, shows that Colombia continues to maintain its attractiveness to investors. Efficient foreign investment is one of the essential instruments in the current situation, not only because it leverages exports, but also because it creates job opportunities and helps boost the economy. We are working with ‘Compromiso por Colombia’ to promote the arrival of more investors: investment facilitation tools and business climate; relocation of companies seeking a new organization of their supply chains and efficiencies when leaving other latitudes; and sectoral and regional incentives,” said José Manuel Restrepo, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

For Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia, “the inauguration of the Cognitive Process Transformation Center in Colombia is a sign of investor confidence in the country and contributes to our consolidation as an investment destination and service export platform. We will continue to support the growth of IBM in our territory and that of this Center, which will contribute to technological development, job creation and the training and development of our talent.”

Patricio Espinosa, IBM Colombia, Venezuela and Latin Caribbean Region General Manager, said that “this is a very powerful announcement for the country and a commitment to technology. We will take process transformation to the next level. The use of new technologies will enable a more personalized, flexible and responsive service for customers.”

For more information about opportunities at IBM click here.

“Telperformance’s experience in developing the WAHA (Work At Home Agent) model was the pillar on which we were able to consolidate and implement a remote-work strategy in the country in a very short time. The safety measures taken by the national government aimed to contain the contagion rates the best way possible, which is why we made the necessary arrangements to accelerate the adaptation of nearly 20.000 of our collaborators to work from their homes in a span of one month, a record time for such a feat. Therefore, these new job openings will also be under the work from home model,” explained Andrés Bernal, CEO of Teleperformance CGP region (Colombia-Guyana-Peru).

Teleperformance has announced an urgent need for 4,000 English, Portuguese and French bilingual agents in Colombia to work from home, despite the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Teleperformance has switched nearly 23.000 employees in Colombia to telework modalities in the past weeks, mirroring the company’s actions in multiple regions across the globe. For those employees that still must work on-site or find telework problematic for other reasons, the company indicates that it has implemented meticulous sanitation, disinfection and cleaning protocols following the recommendations of the Colombian government, local administrations and the World Health Organization to mitigate COVID-19 infections, and comply with Teleperformance’s global practices.

“Our concern will always be our people. Because of this, we look for alternatives that allow us to fully comply with Colombian legislation and with the stability of our personnel. We will always aim to attract the best talent available in Colombia, to put it at the service of the world. As an organization, we have implemented corporate policies that include rigorous health and sanitation processes in facilities and workplaces, in order to protect the entire community, and now, we are generating opportunities that help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 situation,” Bernal added.

Interested candidates legal to work in Colombia may be located anywhere in the country and in addition to Spanish, must be fluent in English, French or Portuguese, since they will be interacting with customers that speak in those languages. Applicants may apply on Teleperformance Colombia’s website.