José Manuel Restrepo Abondano

José Manuel Restrepo Abondano was born in 1969 and grew up in Bogotá, Colombia. He attended the all boys Campestre Gymnasium school, an all-male Spanish English bi-lingual school in the Orquideas district of Bogotá.[3] He graduated from the Del Rosario University in 1994 and completed a master's degree in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1998.[4] He completed a Postgraduate Degree in Finance and Executive Management from the Rosario University in 2004 and a PhD in Higher Education Management from the University of Bath in 2015.[5]

Dr Restrepo started his career working as an advisor to the Economic Commission (committee) of the Congress of the Republic of Colombia. He continued his career in the civil service, becoming Budget and Financial Planning Director of Fonade, the National Fund for Development Projects in Colombia.[6] From 2009–2014, Dr Restrepo was the rector of Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración (CESA).[6] He also served as the rector of the Business Foundation of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá. On September 22, 2014, he was elected rector of his alma mater Del Rosario University.[7] For ten years he wrote a weekly column for the Bogotá-based newspaper El Nuevo Siglo and in 2013 became a weekly columnist for Colombia's oldest newspaper El Espectador.[8][9] His last column was published on July 21, one week after the announcement of his ministerial appointment.[10]

In an interview in May 2018 Dr Restrepo talked about becoming politically engaged at university stating that, along with a group of fellow students, he launched a civic movement called "Political Civic Movement, New People".[3] The students stood for local elections in seven districts of Bogotá, three successfully being elected. He was one of the successful students, being elected to the district council of Chapinero, the second district of Bogotá. On July 14, 2018, President-elect Duque announced on Twitter that he had appointed Dr Restrepo to his government as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.[11] President Duque described Dr Restrepo as "one of the most illustrious Colombians of our generation" and "who will make history in office".[12] Dr Restrepo formally took office on August 7, 2018 following President Duque's inauguration.[13]

• Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia