1. Lourdes Casanova
Senior Lecturer of Management
And Academic Director
Emerging Markets Institute
Samuel Curtis Johnson
Graduate School of Management
370 Sage Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Telephone: 607.254-­‐‑-­‐‑-­‐‑-­‐‑6201
Fax: 607.254.4590
E-­‐‑-­‐‑-­‐‑-­‐‑mail: lourdes.casanova@cornell.edu
www.johnson.cornell.edu
Dear Sir/Madam,
Ithaca,
NY,
April
21,
2015
I have had the pleasure to have worked with Alexander Villalobos-Morsink on several case study projects and
he was one of my best student in my class Competition from Emerging Market Multinationals. His final paper on
Brazil’s Petrobras was incorporated into one of my books as a chapter, and was also converted into a Case Study
to be published at the Cornell Case Center. Alexander also worked on an additional case study on the Private
Equity firm Mesoamerica Capital, Central America’s top PE firm.
Alexander has earned the respect of his classmates and teachers. He is bright and cheerful and I praise his strong
sense of commitment and his high ethical standards, hard work and integrity. Alexander has exhibited an
excellent ability for organization, natural leadership and an outstanding relationship with people around him. He
has travelled throughout the world, which has opened him up to the differences that there are between
countries, regions and cultures, and to understand and accept these differences.
Alexander will currently complete his Masters of Public Administration in May of 2015 with a focus on
Economic and Financial Policy and will start the Full-Time MBA Program this Summer/Fall. Coming from Costa
Rica, his mother is the first woman with a PHD in economics in Costa Rica and is the current Vice-President of
the National Bank of Costa Rica. Alexander has also brought several key speakers including the CFO of
Fundecor and also the President of Fundación Acción Joven, Jose Aguilar, a very successful social entrepreneur
as guest speakers to Cornell. Alexander is also currently part of the student government organizations,
Cornell Latin American Student Society, Old Ezra Finance Club, Latino Business Club and the Cornell LGBT
Organization (Out for Business).
During Alexander’s last summer internship at Deloitte, he was able to develop a very special project that involved
the study of a potential back-office for Deloitte USA in Costa Rica. This concept was entirely his idea, which he
presented to the company’s top leadership. In September of 2014, he organized a high level meeting with
Deloitte’s directors and the Costa Rican minister of Foreign Trade and his economic team in New York City,
which yielded very positive and promising results. This past March Alex also participated in a case competition at
U-Penn where his team got 3rd
place out of a total of 28 teams from Ivy League Universities.
Alexander also already comes with over 5 years of work experience in the private sector apart from having a
double bachelors degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of California. With a proven track
record of having excellent academic results in finance and accounting, I recommend Alexander for the Bank of
America Fellowship Program. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Lourdes
Casanova
Senior
Lecturer
of
Management
and
Academic
Director
Emerging
Markets
Institute
Samuel
C.
Johnson
Graduate
School
of
Management
Cornell
University
lourdes.casanova@cornell.edu