Leopoldo Martínez Nucete

Leopoldo José Martínez Nucete (born October 16, 1964) is a Venezuelan-American lawyer, writer and politician. He was member of the Democratic National Committee. He has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become the 18th United States Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank, and is pending confirmation by the Senate.

Early life, education and academic activities[]

Martínez Nucete graduated as a lawyer from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB) and received two LL.M. degrees from Harvard University (1989) and University of Miami (2008). In addition, he is a Mid-Career Fellow (MCF ‘96) in International Studies and Economic Policy from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.^[1] He was also Professor of Law at the UCAB in Venezuela, and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School in 1995. In 1996 he published his first book "Democracia Económica" (Princeton Academic Press, 1996) and lately 94 Paradoxes to Consider in the 21st. Century (Editorial Dahbar, 2019).

Career[]

Venezuelan politics[]

Martínez Nucete began his political career with the Democratic Action (Acción Democrática) party. In the parliamentary elections of 2000, Leopoldo Martínez was elected as an independent Assembly member supported by an alliance between Enrique Mendoza with various electoral movements and the Primero Justicia party.^[2] His relation with Primero Justicia ended as a result of being called to occupy the position of Minister of Finance in the "de facto" government that was intended to be formed after the coup d'état of April 2002.^[3] However, Martínez never accepted that position. As a result of these events, Leopoldo Martínez sat in parliament as an Independent until 2005, resuming his ties to Acción Democrática.

American politics[]

Martínez Nucete resides in McLean, Virginia in the United States, where he is the CEO of the Center for Democracy and Development of the Americas, publishers of IQLatino, and serves as a board member and Chair of the National Committee (after being the first Chairman of the Board) of the Latino Victory Project.^[4]

In 2018, Tom Pérez appointed him to the national leadership of the Democratic National Committee and he also serves as Finance Chair of the DNC's Hispanic Caucus and one of its National Finance Committee Deputy Chairs.^[5] Leopoldo Martínez also sits in the Steering Committee and Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia.

He was appointed by the Governor Terry McAuliffe to be Commissioner for Small Business in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was a member of the Transition Commission between the McAuliffe and Ralph Northam. Martínez Nucete also serves on the board of directors of the University of Mary Washington.^[6] As a Board member of the University he served as the Chair of the Administration, Finance, Advancement and Facilities Committee, and a member of the Audit and Executive Committees. Recently, the Sorensen Institute at the University of Virginia appointed Leopoldo Martinez Nucete to their Board of Advisors.

Leopoldo Martínez, who played a key role as a DNC member and one of the Latino Victory Project leaders in the Latino movement to elect President Joe Biden, was nominated on August 10th, 2021 to become the 18th Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank for a term of three years after he is confirmed by the United States Senate.

References[]