Luis Carlos Sarmiento Gutiérrez

Luis Carlos Sarmiento Gutiérrez is a civil engineer from the University of Miami and holds an MBA from Cornell University. He is currently the president of Grupo Aval, the most important financial conglomerate in Colombia. Their portfolio of companies includes: Banco de Bogotá, Banco Popular, Banco AV Villas, Banco de Occidente, Corficolombiana, BAC and Porvenir.

He has 35 years of professional experience, 30 of which have been in companies of the group. He has led the negotiation and acquisition of two banks in the United States, three banks in Central America, and one pension fund in Colombia. In addition, he has made multiple bond and stock issues in Colombia and the international market.

After working at Procter & Gamble in the United States and at the First Bank of America in New York in 1996, he joined the Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo organization. He served as an advisor to the president, risk analyst, financial planning, and marketing; and was later elected president of the cellular telephone company Cocelco. In 2000, he was designated president of Grupo Aval. In this role, he has led the purchase and integration of more than 20 Colombian financial institutions and the expansion stage of the company with the buying of BAC Credomatic, the leading financial Group in Central America. In addition, he recently headed the acquisition of Multibank Financial Group in Panama, strengthening its presence in the region.

He leads the projects that promote synergies among Aval entities and coordinates the Group’s entities’ growth, profitability, innovation, and sustainability strategy. In 2014, thanks to Luis Carlos Sarmiento Gutiérrez, the company’s shares were traded on the most important stock exchange globally, the New York Stock Exchange. He has always been a sportsman and is passionate about airplanes and his family. His team defines him defines as an innate leader.