Cuba, Venezuela, and the Evolving US Sanctions Landscape

Ricardo “Ric” Herrero is the Executive Director of the Cuba Study Group, a non-partisan organization of Cuban American business leaders that analyzes U.S.-Cuba relations and develops policy options that advance U.S. national interests and the wellbeing of the Cuban people.

Ricardo has close to two decades of experience working at the intersection of government advocacy, international relations, politics, media, and philanthropy. From 2012 through 2017, he led two successful advocacy campaigns to promote diplomatic and economic ties between the United States and Cuba. Ricardo has been recognized by both the Biden-Harris and Obama-Biden administrations for his pivotal work as an advocate for constructive bilateral engagement and regulatory changes to enhance U.S. support for Cuba’s private sector.

His views and articles have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Economist, Bloomberg, Financial Times, El País, and The Miami Herald. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera, Noticias Univision, and Telemundo.

Ricardo is an Eisenhower Fellow, a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an Advisory Director of the Cuba Emprende Foundation. He holds a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a B.A. in Business Administration from Florida International University. Ricardo is based in Washington, D.C., and is the son of Cuban exiles.

Amy Wotapka is the OFAC and BSA Officer at First American Bank, a $6B+ community bank with locations in Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida. Amy’s banking career started in 1982 as a teller moving quickly to branch management. Her career path took her from lending, customer experience, policy governance, compliance requirements to ultimately landing in anti-money laundering and OFAC compliance in 2001. Amy has worked for top ten banks and community banks during her banking career.

Ivy Llena has over 14 years of experience in the learning and development field, providing capacity-building and professional development programs for corporate and social service agencies in the US and the Philippines.

Before joining ACSS, she was a program director at a non-profit organization in the Philippines, where she co-designed and co-implemented economic empowerment programs and services for survivors of human trafficking and their families. Ivy also served at the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, where she led and contributed to inclusive economic growth initiatives.