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Jorge Arguelles
Regional Manager, Mexico and Central America
Jorge has been a New Zealand Trade Commissioner in Mexico and Central America since 1997, during which time he has helped drive an increase of New Zealand exports and investment into the Mexican market.
Jorge specialises in the agricultural technology and food and beverage sectors, though he has been involved in most products and services that have entered the market over the years.
Jorge started his career as an international trader in the food division of the largest world trading company, Mitsubishi, where he traded food commodities from all over the world into Mexico, and exported Mexican food products to Asia.
Following his time at Mitsubishi, Jorge took up a role as Senior International Trader at the Australian trading company Keys Trading with their office in Mexico, with a focus on meat imports and mineral exports. He then became Australian Meat and Livestock’s representative for Mexico where he was in charge of developing and implementing the marketing strategy for Australian meat.
Jorge studied international relations at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and gained a Diploma in Marketing from the city’s prestigious Tecnologico de Monterrey.
During his university studies in 1986 he was selected from 1,000 students to be one of the 50 Mexican students to live and represent Mexico for one year at the Epcot Centre in Florida.
Jorge has also studied German at the Georg Augustus Universitat in Gottingen and the Colon Private Schule in Hamburg, Germany.
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Duncan Catanach
Trade Commissioner, Los Angeles
Duncan is a Trade Commissioner based in the Los Angeles office where he manages the Trade Business Development team and leads client and project work in the US health and clean technology sectors.
Duncan has worked at NZTE since 2003. Prior to his current role he held managerial roles in NZTE’s ICT and Strategic Initiatives teams and acted as a strategic advisor to NZTE on organisational and economic strategy. He also led NZTE’s project work globally in the health IT, medical technologies and bioactives sectors for three years.
Before joining NZTE, Duncan worked as a strategy consultant in Australia where he worked with international companies in a diverse range of sectors including telecommunications, resources, insurance, health and professional services.
Duncan holds a degree in Economics (Hons) (First Class) from the University of Melbourne and post graduate qualifications in economic statistics.
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Luciano Epelbaum
Regional Manager, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay
Luciano is NZTE’s Regional Manager for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Luciano has more than 10 years of professional experience in economic and financial analysis, business consulting and business development in different sectors in South America - main sectors: food and beverage, agri-business, IT, financial institutions, energy, retail, health, logistics and real estate.
Before joining NZTE, Luciano worked as an investment manager for a Regional Angel Capital Fund. He managed an investment portfolio of US$30 million, represented shareholder interest in board meetings and developed investment projects in the real estate sector.
Previously, Luciano was a Senior Financial Analyst and a specialist in corporate finance for Citibank. His clients included multinational companies from many industries. Earlier, as a Business Analyst for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he acquired valuable experience in the business and financial advisory services division.
Luciano earned his degree as a Certified Public Accountant at the University of Buenos Aires. He subsequently completed a Master in Business Administration at UTDT in Argentina. Later he completed an executive programme in agri-business at San Andrews Business School in Argentina.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina 35 years ago, Luciano is fluent in English and Hebrew with good reading and understanding of Portuguese, in addition to his native Spanish.
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Melissa Trochon
Trade Commissioner/Consul General, Canada
Melissa Trochon is Trade Commissioner/Consul General responsible for NZTE’s activities in Canada.
Based in Vancouver, Melissa has had a number of roles at NZTE including establishing and managing an early stage business funding programme, project management of export promotion and free trade agreement initiatives.
Prior to joining NZTE, Melissa worked in business banking at ANZ and as an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London.
As well as her Trade Commissioner role, Melissa is the Consul General.
Melissa holds a Commerce degree (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts degree, both from Otago University.
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Winifred Oehninger
Regional Manager, Chile, Peru and Colombia
Winifred is NZTE’s Regional Manager for Chile, Peru and Colombia and is based in NZTE’s office in Santiago, Chile.
Winifred has extensive experience working for New Zealand's trade and economic development agencies in Chile, and in her current role she helps develop strategic relationships and strong business networks needed for successful trade and internationalisation of New Zealand companies in the region.
Since the TransPacific Strategic Partnership Agreement was established in 2006, New Zealand’s relationship with the South American region has grown and now includes overseas direct investment, particularly in the agricultural and energy sectors.
Winifred has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the Chilean in business management.
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Vicky Whitlock
Regional Manager, Washington
Vicky has worked with NZTE and its predecessor organisations for more than 20 years in roles including Trade Development Consultant, Business Development Manager and in recent years Regional Manager for the Washington DC office.
Vicky has responsibility for NZTE’s activity in areas including the US Public Sector (Defence/Security) and World Bank, and has significant experience working with New Zealand companies in the US market.
Vicky joined the New Zealand Embassy in 1988 and in 1994 took on primary responsibility for monitoring commercial opportunities with the World Bank. As a result, Vicky has in depth knowledge of World Bank opportunities, systems and processes as well as a comprehensive network of contacts within the World Bank Group.
Vicky assumed her current role as Regional Manager for the Washington DC office of NZTE in 1998 and plays a lead role in the development of commercial opportunities in the US federal, state and local government markets across a variety of verticals.
