Our Team

Dr. Guillermo Abdel Musik is Director of the Center for Competitiveness Studies at ITAM and professor of Operations Management, Pricing Strategy and International Competitiveness. In the last 17 years he has coordinated and participated in more than 150 research and consulting projects for a wide variety of companies, governments, and international organizations. He holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from ITAM, a Masters in Regional Science (University of Pennsylvania), a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning (University of Pennsylvania), as well as Postdoctoral studies in Management (Tulane University).

Among the companies and institutions for which he has developed consulting and applied research projects are: Daimler, Toyota Motors North America, Banamex, Astra Zeneca, Profuturo GNP, Secretaría de Economía, World Bank, Secretaría de Turismo, among many others. His areas of concentration include International Production and Logistics, Pricing Strategy and Project Management.

Previously, he was a professor of Industry and Urbanization in Latin America at the Wharton School and consultant for the Industry and Energy Division of the World Bank for two years. He also was a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Economic Research at Kyoto University and a Visiting Researcher in the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He has taught courses in Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, and in Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a member of the Consultative Council on Quality of Life, Progress and Development for Mexico City and is currently a member of the Advisory Board of three companies. He is co-editor of the book “Mexico 2020: Challenges and Perspective” and author of several articles. In 2015 he was awarded the Professional Merit Award - Academic Sector by the Alumni Association of ITAM.

David F. Muñoz is Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial & Operations Engineering at the ITAM, where he also serves as Adjoint Director of the Center for the Study of Competitiveness (CEC). He received a BS in Statistics from the Universidad Nacional Agraria, La Molina (UNALM) of Peru, an MS in mathematics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), and MS and PhD degrees in Operations Research from Stanford University.

He was formerly a full time Professor at UNALM and PUCP. Visiting posts include Purdue University, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, the University of Valencia in Spain and the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Member of the National Research System of Mexico and an active member of professional associations: International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC), Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) and Sociedad Mexicana de Investigación de Operaciones (SMIO where, at present, he is the President).

He has a long career as a consultant in the areas of Process Modeling and Optimization, and Industrial Technology, and is the author of the textbooks Administración de Operaciones: Enfoque de Administración de Procesos de Negocios (Cengage Learning), Administración de Operaciones (Alfaomega), and co-author of Introducción a la Ingeniería (Cengage Learning) and Simio y Simulación: Modelado Análisis y Aplicaciones LLC).

Dr. Muñoz's research interests and publications are in the statistical analysis of stochastic simulations, applications of simulation, and design and analysis of business processes. His papers have appeared in Operations Research, Management Science, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Computers & Operations Research, Business Process Management Journal, Operations Research Letters, International Transactions in Operational Research, Interfaces, Información Tecnológica, and Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, among others. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Data Science, and the Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science.

He has been recognized as an “Edelman Laureate” for participating and postulating the project “Indeval Develops a New Operating and Settlement Using Operations Research” that was awarded the 2010 Franz Edelman Award from INFORMS, for an outstanding world-class application of Operations Research techniques. He has also received the 1997 Meritorius Service Award from Operations Research, the 2006-2007 Outstanding Member Award from the Mexico chapter of the IISE, and the 2015 Meritorious Academic Recognition from the National Association of Engineering Schools and Departments from Mexico.

Professor Merino is the Director of the Master in Marketing Program and a full-time Professor at the  ITAM. Prior to her appointment at the ITAM, she was a Marketing Executive at Procter & Gamble, Sanwa Bank and the Spanish Board for Foreign Trade and Investment.  Professor Merino received a degree in Business Administration and Law from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (España), a Master in International Management from the ITAM and a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Professor Merino has published in marketing, psychology and economics journals. She is a member of the Mexican System of Researchers. Her primary research focus is in development and application of statistical and psychometric methods for understanding consumer behavior and improving marketing decision-making. Areas of recent research include methods to forecast sales in retail areas and to measure institutional quality at the regional level as an antecedent to corporate investment decisions. She teaches Market Research and Marketing Strategy at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the ITAM.

Professor Merino is an active consultant for the ITAM’s Center for Competitive Studies, where she has participated in several projects for both public institutions and private companies. Her expertise in this area relates to marketing research and metrics, forecasting and industrial benchmarking.

Sylvia Meljem is a faculty member at the ITAM, having served on its faculty since 1987, where she serves as Director of the Center for Accounting Linkage and Research and Head of the Academic Department of Accounting and previously as the Director of the Public Accounting and Financial Strategy Program (1995-2006). Sylvia received her Ph.D. in Management Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

She has published articles in national and international journals including The International Journal of Business Disciplines, has authored several books and co-authored Accounting of Costs and Strategy Management. She is president of the Academic Subcommittee of Corporate Governance Council and Editorial Board President of the Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos, A.C. (IMCP) magazine, Contaduría Pública and Veritas.

Sylvia Meljem is a member of AAA’s AUD and MAS Sections and served on the AAA Global Engagement Committee (2012-15) and President of the Mexico IMA Chapter (2015-2017).

She has thirty years’ teaching experience, is a CPA, is a technical advisor for accounting issues in Mexico, is National Coordinator of Linkage at the National Association of Faculties and Schools of Accounting and Administration in Mexico, a Project Leader and the Vice President of Technical Events at the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives, and has served as Technical Advisor of The National Evaluation Center for Higher Education in Mexico (2012-16), and as a member of The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) (2007-12) and currently Technical Advisor of this organization.

She has received a number of awards including the Association of Public Accountants of Mexico’s Distinguished Professor Award (2012), Refugio Roman Almonte medal (2011), and ITAM’s Race to the Universe and Professional Merit Award (2004).

Dr. Imanol Belausteguigoitia is Director of the Family Enterprise Development Center (CEDEF-ITAM). He is a professor of Management of Family Business and Entrepreneurship in ITAM's undergraduate and graduate program. He heads the Family Business Diploma (ITAM). He has worked in family-run businesses for over 15 years and due to this experience he knows their complexities and benefits. He received his Ph.D. in Management (UNAM) and did his postdoctoral studies at Babson College (Boston), where he taught the course Entrepreneurship: The Key to Family Business Success (MBA and Undergraduate level).

He is currently a part-time professor associated with the Digital Systems Department, where he previously was (form 1994 to 2017) full time professor, Dean of the Telecommunications Engineering program, and Head of the Department. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Engineering degree at Cornell University (NY), and he is an Electromechanical Engineer from the National Autonomous University in Mexico (UNAM). His main areas of interest include telecommunications technology, economics and regulation. He has collaborated with many public and private organizations, including for example: the Communications Ministry in Mexico (SCT), the Federal Utility Commission (CFE), Telefónica Móviles (Mexico), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), the Center for Studies in Competitiveness (ITAM), and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT). Abroad, he has participated in projects with the German Institute for Telecommunications Research (WIK) and the World Bank, and he has been a visiting professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has given talks at many universities in Mexico as well as abroad. For more than 35 years he has lectured many courses and he has supervised over 75 thesis at the bachelors, masters and doctorate levels, at ITAM and at UNAM. In addition to two books and several book chapters, he has published more than 70 technical contributions in journals and conference proceedings. He is currently member of the Board of Directors of PROMTEL and a member of the Advisory Board of the Federal Telecommunications Institute in Mexico (the Regulator). He is a member of the Academy of Engineering (Mexico), the Academy of Sciences (Mexico), and the International Telecommunications Society.

He is Director of the Masters’ Program in Information Technology and Management, full time professor and researcher at the Digital Systems Department, and member of the Center for Studies in Competitiveness.  He holds a Ph.D. degree in Informatics from the University of Rennes 1, France; a M.Sc. degree in Computing, from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, United Kingdom; and a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering, with a specialization in Digital Systems, from the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM). His current research interests focus on the Internet of Things, Blockchains, Big Data technologies, and Computer Networks (design, security, and performance evaluation). Dr. Incera has been a visiting professor at UNAM, UAM, U. Anáhuac in México, Telecom-Bretagne in France, and U. of Colorado at Boulder in the USA He received an IBM Big Data Faculty Award in 2013. He has co-authored several books, and more than 60 papers related with ICTs. He is a member of the Advice Council in ICTs (CATIC) at the Dirección General de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicaciones, UNAM. He is also member of the Mexican Informatics Academy (AMIAC), and of the Foundation for the Knowledge and Digital Culture (FUNCO).

Dr. Ante Salcedo
asalcedog@itam.mx
55-5628-4000 ext. 4065

He is Dean of the Division of Engineering, Head of the Digital Systems Department and full-time professor and researcher. He holds MIT Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, as well as a B.Sc. degree in mechanical-electrical engineering from UNAM. He lectures a variety of courses related to signal propagation in the physical layer of communications networks, and conducts basic research about the presence and implications of astronomical dimension electromagnetic waves. At the same time, Dr. Salcedo conducts applied research and consulting in relation to the analysis, prospective and strategic planning of information and communications technologies, focusing to business development and public policy, with a particular interest on the development of smart small LATAM rural communities. Along his rich and diverse professional career, Dr. Salcedo has taught (or collaborated teaching) at UNAM, ITESM, Anahuac University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and MIT; has occupied high responsibility government appointments as he was Director General of Telecommunications and International Affairs at the Mexican telecommunications regulator (IFT) and as he was founder Head of the Technology Innovation Unit at the National Security Commission; was associate consultant at the business consulting firm McKinsey & Co.; and was social witness for multiple public auctions at Mexican Transparency (a branch of International Transparency). Along the past twenty years Dr. Salcedo has been involved with many research (basic and applied) and consulting projects, for government and private, national and multinational, organizations.

Laura Sangri studied Public Accounting at ITAM. She worked as an accountant at Xabre Servicios, as a consultant of administrative and finance projects at Escobar Latapí Consultants, and as an external accountant for the following companies: Telecommunications Systems and Services, Presis, Business Process and Systems Solutions, Miami Holdings, Florida Enterprises, and Acierthec. She has been employed as an Accounting professor in ITAM's undergraduate program and is since 2005 the Administrative Coordinator of the Center for Competitiveness Studies.

Mónica Sánchez studied Political Sciences at ITAM. She has a Diploma in Advertising and Competitive Communication from ITAM. She is working at the ITAM's Center for Competitiveness Studies since 2005. In the public sector, namely in Mexico City's Ministry of Finance, she was the Minister's asistant and she was in charge of Human Resources, Equipment and Finances, as well as assisting the Head of the Department in the Treasurers Office's Tax Information Division. For more than six years, she worked for ITESM's campuses in Monterrey and Mexico City. She was previously employed as the assistant of the Director of the Business and Top Management Division. She participated in the logistics area of the "NAFTA Review" event. She has taken more than twenty courses in administration, packaging, and language.