Cecilia López Montaño  Cecilia Matilde López Montaño (born Barranquilla, Atlántico, April 18, 1943) has been in public service in Colombia for over twenty years thanks to a solid professional background. Senator López is a well-known economist and Colombian politician. She has always been an active member of the Liberal Party and as such, has been appointed to several cabinet positions. On September 27, 2009, she was a runner up on the primaries of her party, and was the only female candidate amongst six other members of the party. She began her education at the Parrish and La Enseñanza schools in Barranquilla. Later, she graduated as an economist from University of the Andes in Bogotá. Finally, the Senator received two postgraduate degrees from the Centro de Estudios Educativos, Mexico in Demography and the Economy of Education. She was Department Head of a key unit at the National Planning Department (1978–1980); Managing Director of Fonade (1981–1982), Vice Minister of Agriculture (1982–1985); Ambassador of Colombia in The Netherlands (1985–1988); Director of PREALC, Regional Employment Program for Latin America and the Caribbean from International Labour Organization -ILO- and United Nations Organization -ONU-, (1988–1990), Director of the Social Security Department (1990–1992), President of Consenso (1992–1994); Minister of Environment (1994–1996); Minister of Agriculture (1996–1997); Director of the National Planning Department (1997–1998); International Consultant (1998–2006); President of Agenda Colombia Foundation, (2002–2006), and Senator of the republic of Colombia with the Liberal Party (2006–2010). Currently, she is a member the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) board of directors, headquartered in Washington, D.C.; the World Wide Group of experts on Intellectual Property from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Switzerland. She is the president of the Group of Parliamentarian Women of the Americas at the Inter- Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA) in Canada and she plays an active role in the Cartagena's Feminist Initiative. In the past, she was a member of the board of directors with the International Water Management Institutelocated in Sri Lanka with Rawoo, the Advisory Council of the Dutch Government, Globalization for Development in New York, and in Colombia, Fedesarrollo and the Natura Foundation.