Jorge Jraissati

Jorge Jraissati is the President of the Economic Inclusion Group, a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect people and businesses from financial exclusion risks, help countries strengthen their economic security and support the economic reconstruction of Venezuela. EIG specializes in advancing policy reforms, leading research projects and providing direct advice to public and private institutions.  

Jorge’s policy recommendations have been reflected in financial inclusion reforms, economic security policy protections, international strategies to support democracy in Venezuela, recommendations to the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement, and measures to strengthen the participation of young people in the processes of the Council of Europe, among others. These reforms were achieved through cooperation with over 100 lawmakers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Parliament. Jorge’s work has also influenced policy deliberations at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He has also been invited to give briefings at the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance, Sweden’s Riksdag (national parliament), as well as the U.S. Congress, State Department and Treasury Department.

Jorge has been invited to speak at major international forums, including the U.S. Government-led Summit for Democracy in South Korea, the Copenhagen Democracy Summit and at various side events of the World Economic Forum in Davos. He has also been invited as a guest lecturer to dozens of universities, including Harvard, MIT and Cambridge, where he has lectured about Venezuela’s economic reconstruction, the rise of global autocratic networks and the effect of de-risking trends and compliance rules on economic growth, among others. Jorge frequently publishes analytical pieces at media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy and National Review on Venezuela’s economic challenges, sanctions-evasion mechanisms, and U.S. economic, technology, and financial policy. His analyses have been cited by academic institutions like Oxford University, University of Michigan and RAND Corporation.

Jorge is a research fellow at IESE Business School and Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business, where he has published peer-reviewed papers, white papers and case studies on Venezuela’s economic collapse, the global state of financial inclusion and the effect compliance rules have on investment rates in energy and defense, among others. Jorge’s academic background includes executive certificates in nonprofit management at Harvard Business School and public policy at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. It also includes degrees in economics and business from Florida Atlantic University’s Wilkes Honors College, a postgraduate diploma in public administration from IESE Business School, and master-level studies in finance at Harvard University.