Born in Mexico and raised in Chicago, he received his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Chicago. He has recently completed a book on the political economy of U.S.-Latin American relations in the late twentieth century including the impact of a potential Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (Convergence and Divergence between NAFTA, Chile, and MERCOSUR: Overcoming Dilemmas of North and South American Economic Integration). He is also a board member of the Los Angeles Community Development Bank and has been appointed to the Economic Strategies Panel of the State of California. For his work on behalf of the immigrant community, he was given the White House Champion of Change Award in 2012 and the Todos Somos Arizona Human Rights Award in 2013. Barbara Magnoni