Gabriela Sommerfeld

Ecuadorian foreign minister

Gabriela Sommerfeld

in 2024

Nationality| Ecuador
Education| Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey
Known for| Ecuador's foreign minister

Gabriela Sommerfeld aka María Gabriela Sommerfeld Rosero is an Ecuadorian foreign minister. She has led airlines, she led tourism for Quito and she was the CEO of a leading hotel.

## Life[edit]

Sommerfield was educated at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and she went on to take an MBA at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico.[1]

In 2002 she was the President of the Equadorian airline Aerogal. That airline is now Avianca Ecuador.[1]

In 2016 she was managing tourism for the city of Quito in a year when there had been a large earthquake which had largely avoided the city but it had caused an estimated three billion dollars of damage and killed nearly 500 people. In 2015 about 700,000 tourists had come or travelled through Quito.[2]

She was announced as the CEO of the short lived Equair airline when it was launched in January 2022.[3] Although Frederik Jacobsen was also announced with a similar title.[4] She held a high position on the airline industry before she became the CEO of a hotel.[5]

In March 2023 she was the CEO of a hotel in Quito[5] and on 23 November 2023 at the Carondelet Palace she was formally made the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility by the new President Daniel Noboa.[1] Other appointments that day included Mishel Mancheno who became the legal secretary[6] and Niels Olsen.

Secretary Blinken with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld in December 2023

In December 2023 she and Ecuador's Production and Trade Minister Sonsoles García met Antony Blinken the US Secretary of State.[7] In the same month the Attorney General Diana Salazar Méndez had made arrests in Ecuador and in January the country was in crisis as the President announced an internal fight against several drug gangs after the prison escape of José Adolfo Macías Villamar. Sommerfeld was in Davos as the 60 day state of emergency unfolded.[8]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c Varas, Eduardo (2023-10-31). "¿Quién es Gabriela Sommerfeld, canciller de Ecuador?". GK (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-01-30.
2. ^ Major, Brian (2016). "Gabriella Sommerfeld". TravelPulse. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
3. ^ Mazó, Edgardo Gimenez (2022-01-10). "A new airline is born in Latin America: Equair performed its maiden flight". Aviacionline.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-01-30.
4. ^ Sourtech. "Cinco consejos para superar la vuelta al trabajo post vacaciones". Forbes Ecuador (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-01-30.
5. ^ a b "Gabriela Sommerfeld, la mujer que rompió paradigmas en los negocios en Ecuador". Ekos Negocios. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
6. ^ Miño, Emilia Paz y (2023-12-20). "¿Quién es Mishel Mancheno, secretaria Jurídica de la Presidencia?". GK (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-01-30.
7. ^ "Secretary Blinken's Meeting with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld and Production and Trade Minister Sonsoles García". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
8. ^ Weymouth, Lally (2024-01-18). "Opinion | Ecuador's foreign minister: We had chaos. We need international support". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-01-30.