José R. Cárdenas

Directive at The Cormac Group

Mr. José R. Cárdenas is the Director of the Cormac Group.  He has thirty years of experience in the policy process between Washington and Latin America and the Caribbean.  He has held senior positions at the U.S. Department of State, the National Security Council and the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he served as Acting Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean and oversaw nearly $1 billion in development assistance between the U.S. and the region.  He has served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States and as Senior Professional Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In addition to testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees, he has written, spoken and been interviewed extensively on hemispheric issues.

José is an advisor to the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba and a member of the Research Council of the Center for a Free Cuba. In addition, he is a course coordinator at the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service Institute and has participated in the State Department's Overseas Speakers Program.