Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
Encyclopedia
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard (born October 3, 1938), better known simply as PPK, is a Peru
vian public administrator, economist, and politician that participate in the policy of his country.
Kuczynski worked in the United States
before entering Peruvian politics
. he served as Minister of Energy and Mines
under President Fernando Belaúnde Terry
, and as Minister of Economy and Finance
and Prime Minister under President Alejandro Toledo Manrique.
Kuczynski was a presidential candidate in the 2011 Peruvian presidential election
, coming in third place. His opponents Ollanta Humala Tasso and Keiko Fujimori
went on to the June 5, 2011 runoff election, in which Humala was elected.
leaders in Peru. He received his early education at Markham College
in Lima, Peru, and Rossall School
in Lancashire
, England
. He won a foundation scholarship to study at Exeter College, Oxford
and graduated with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics in 1956. Later, he received the John Parker Compton fellowship to study public affairs at Princeton University
in the United States, where he received a master's degree
in 1961. He began his career at the World Bank
in 1961 as a regional economist for six countries in Central America
, Haiti
and the Dominican Republic
.
In 1967, Kuczynski returned to Peru to become the Deputy General Manager of the Peruvian Central bank, but left the country in 1969 due to threats from General Juan Velasco Alvarado's administration. He then joined the International Monetary Fund
in Washington, D.C. as an economist and, in 1971, became Chief Economist for the northern countries of Latin America
at the World Bank
, moving on to become Chief of Policy Planning at the Bank. From 1973 to 1975, he was a partner of Kuhn Loeb and Co., the international investment bank headquartered in New York City. In 1975, he returned to Washington, D.C to become chief economist for the International Finance Corporation (the private finance arm of the World Bank). Subsequently, he was appointed President of Halco Mining
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, an international consortium mining company with operations in West Africa.
From 1983-1992, he was co-Chairman of First Boston
in New York City, an international investment bank. In 1992, he founded, with six other partners, the Latin American Enterprise Fund (LAEF) in Miami, Florida, a private equity firm
that focused on investments in Mexico, Central and South America. The institutional investors in LAEF included more than 15 of the world's largest university endowments, foundations, and pension funds.
Kuczynski has been a director of various companies in Peru and elsewhere. Registered in the state of Florida, he co-owns a personal savings vehicle Westfield Capital
, and in connection with his past activity in LAEF he is an officer of an office-rental partnership South Bayshore Properties.
During the 1990s, Kuczynski was mainly involved in the private-equity fund-management business in the United States. He made small personal donations to the presidential campaigns of George H.W. Bush and of George W. Bush
and to the state-senatorship campaign of his wife's cousins in Wisconsin.
In 2000, Alejandro Toledo Manrique, then professor at the ESAN university in Lima, asked Kuczynski to advise him on his campaign for president. Kuczynski returned to work in Peru, and after Toledo's successful campaign, Kuczynski was appointed as his Minister of Economy and Finance from July 2001 to July 2002, and again from February 2004 to August 2005. In August 2005 he was appointed Prime Minister, a position he held until Toledo's presidential term expired in 2006.
It has been alleged, notably in 2007 by the commentator Manuel Dammert Ego Aguirre, that while he held public office Kuczynski was involved in facilitating the activities, in various projects in Peru, of a financial entity known as First Capital Partners, in particular in relation to the Olmos
diversion project, the Jorge Chávez International Airport
, the Transportadora de Gas, and the Conrisa consortium. It is true that for a few days former partners of Kuczynski in LAEF (above) had inappropriately and incorrectly listed Kuczynski as a founding partner of First Capital. However this error was corrected within days; and in due course Kuczynski sued Dammert for defamation and falsification of documents. Kuczynski's suit was upheld at first and second instance, but on appeal to Peru's Supreme Court Dammert's right to opine on matters of public interest was upheld, without ruling on the merits of Dammert's claims, which have been discussed extensively by Kuczynski.
After working with the Toledo administration, he founded Agua Limpia, a Peruvian non-governmental organization that provides drinking water systems to communities in Peru. Agua Limpia is supported by the Inter-American Development Bank
, Scotia Bank of Canada and others.
On December 1, 2010, Kuczynski announced that he was a candidate for president of Peru in the upcoming elections
. Kuczynski ran for president of Peru in the general election, though he did not pass into the run-off as head of the Alianza por el Gran Cambio
(Alliance for the Great Change), formed by the Christian People's Party
, the Alliance for Progress
, the Humanist Party and the National Restoration
.
, Germany
was a renowned pathologist and tropical disease specialist, in particular expert on verruga peruana or Carrion's disease. He trained at the Universities of Rostock and Berlin, where he was professor of pathology. An officer in the German army on the Eastern and Turkish fronts in the First World War, he travelled widely in Russia, China, West Africa, and Brazil. Leaving Germany in 1933, he was invited to Peru in 1936 by president Óscar R. Benavides
to set up the public health service in the interior of the country. Dr. Kuczynski reformed the San Pablo leprosarium on the Amazon at the Brazilian frontier, set up a public health colony on the Perene river, and was later professor of tropical medicine at San Marcos University in Lima.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard has been married twice: first with Jane Dudley Casey (daughter of Joseph E. Casey
, member of congress for the 3rd district of Massachusetts), their offspring being Carolina Madeleine Kuczynski, the journalist Alex Kuczynski
, and the philosopher John-Michael Kuczynski. His current wife is Nancy Lange with whom he has had a daughter. Kuczynski's younger brother Miguel Jorge is a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge
; and their first cousin is Jean-Luc Godard
, the renowned French-Swiss film director.
I
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian public administrator, economist, and politician that participate in the policy of his country.
Kuczynski worked in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
before entering Peruvian politics
Politics of Peru
Politics of the Republic of Peru takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Peru is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is...
. he served as Minister of Energy and Mines
Ministry of Energy and Mines (Peru)
The Ministry of Energy and Mines of Peru is an entity of the Peruvian government responsible for managing the energy and mining sectors of Peru. Additionally, it is charged with overseeing the equal distribution of energy throughout the country...
under President Fernando Belaúnde Terry
Fernando Belaúnde Terry
Fernando Belaúnde Terry was President of Peru for two non-consecutive terms . Deposed by a military coup in 1968, he was re-elected in 1980 after eleven years of military rule...
, and as Minister of Economy and Finance
Ministry of Economy and Finance (Peru)
The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Peru is the entity in charge of the planning and execution of the economic policies of the Peruvian Government with the goal of optimizing the economic and financial activities of the state, establish macroeconomic activity, and achieve the sustainable growth...
and Prime Minister under President Alejandro Toledo Manrique.
Kuczynski was a presidential candidate in the 2011 Peruvian presidential election
Peruvian general election, 2011
The Peruvian general election, 2011 took place on 10 April 2011. Since no candidate received more than half of all valid votes, a second round was necessary to determine the winner. This second round took place on 5 June and determined the successor of Alan García, as well as 130 members of the...
, coming in third place. His opponents Ollanta Humala Tasso and Keiko Fujimori
Keiko Fujimori
Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi is a Peruvian Fujimorista politician, daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and Susana Higuchi. She served as First Lady, from 1994 to 2000, after her parents divorced, becoming the youngest First Lady in the history of the Americas...
went on to the June 5, 2011 runoff election, in which Humala was elected.
Early life and career before politics
Kuczynski is the son of Max Hans Kuczynski, one of the earliest public healthPublic health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
leaders in Peru. He received his early education at Markham College
Markham College
Markham College is a school in Lima, Peru. Founded by British expatriates, Markham promotes a mixture of British and Peruvian education supported by a strictly enforced set of traditions. Its students fulfill the Peruvian national curriculum, as well as the IGCSE program from the University of...
in Lima, Peru, and Rossall School
Rossall School
Rossall School is a British, co-educational, independent school, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year...
in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He won a foundation scholarship to study at Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
and graduated with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics in 1956. Later, he received the John Parker Compton fellowship to study public affairs at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in the United States, where he received a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in 1961. He began his career at the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
in 1961 as a regional economist for six countries in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
and the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
.
In 1967, Kuczynski returned to Peru to become the Deputy General Manager of the Peruvian Central bank, but left the country in 1969 due to threats from General Juan Velasco Alvarado's administration. He then joined the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
in Washington, D.C. as an economist and, in 1971, became Chief Economist for the northern countries of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
at the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, moving on to become Chief of Policy Planning at the Bank. From 1973 to 1975, he was a partner of Kuhn Loeb and Co., the international investment bank headquartered in New York City. In 1975, he returned to Washington, D.C to become chief economist for the International Finance Corporation (the private finance arm of the World Bank). Subsequently, he was appointed President of Halco Mining
Halco Mining
Halco Mining is an aluminium company based in Guinea. The company is organized under the laws of the state of Delaware in the United States. Halco is the 51% owner of the stock of Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, the primary aluminium mine and smelter operator in Guinea, known as CBG.The...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, an international consortium mining company with operations in West Africa.
From 1983-1992, he was co-Chairman of First Boston
First Boston
First Boston Corporation was a New York-based, bulge bracket, investment bank, founded in 1932 and acquired by Credit Suisse in 1990. Together with its sister investment banks, it was referred to as CS First Boston after 1993 and part of Credit Suisse First Boston after 1996, the First Boston part...
in New York City, an international investment bank. In 1992, he founded, with six other partners, the Latin American Enterprise Fund (LAEF) in Miami, Florida, a private equity firm
Private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment manager that makes investments in the private equity of operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital...
that focused on investments in Mexico, Central and South America. The institutional investors in LAEF included more than 15 of the world's largest university endowments, foundations, and pension funds.
Kuczynski has been a director of various companies in Peru and elsewhere. Registered in the state of Florida, he co-owns a personal savings vehicle Westfield Capital
Westfield Capital
Westfield Capital, formerly known as Capital Mall, is a shopping mall owned by the Westfield Group, and is located in Olympia, Washington...
, and in connection with his past activity in LAEF he is an officer of an office-rental partnership South Bayshore Properties.
Political career
In 1980, after the election which named Fernando Belaúnde Terry as president, Kuczynski was invited to return to Peru to serve as Minister of Energy and Mines. In this position he sponsored law 23231 which, through tax exemptions and other incentives, promoted oil and gas exploration and exploitation after a period of relative neglect. This controversial measure has been subject to repeated change and reinstatement. Kuczynski also decentralized new investment in electricity generation.During the 1990s, Kuczynski was mainly involved in the private-equity fund-management business in the United States. He made small personal donations to the presidential campaigns of George H.W. Bush and of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and to the state-senatorship campaign of his wife's cousins in Wisconsin.
In 2000, Alejandro Toledo Manrique, then professor at the ESAN university in Lima, asked Kuczynski to advise him on his campaign for president. Kuczynski returned to work in Peru, and after Toledo's successful campaign, Kuczynski was appointed as his Minister of Economy and Finance from July 2001 to July 2002, and again from February 2004 to August 2005. In August 2005 he was appointed Prime Minister, a position he held until Toledo's presidential term expired in 2006.
It has been alleged, notably in 2007 by the commentator Manuel Dammert Ego Aguirre, that while he held public office Kuczynski was involved in facilitating the activities, in various projects in Peru, of a financial entity known as First Capital Partners, in particular in relation to the Olmos
Olmos District
Olmos District is one of twelve districts of the province Lambayeque in Peru.The Limon Dam is part of the Olmos Transandino Project which is intended to irrigate the dry region east of the Andes by damming the flood-prone Huancabamba River.-References:...
diversion project, the Jorge Chávez International Airport
Jorge Chávez International Airport
Jorge Chávez International Airport , known as Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez in Spanish, is Peru's main international and domestic airport. It is located in Callao, 11 kilometers from the Historic Centre of Lima and 17 km from Miraflores. Callao is the port city now fully...
, the Transportadora de Gas, and the Conrisa consortium. It is true that for a few days former partners of Kuczynski in LAEF (above) had inappropriately and incorrectly listed Kuczynski as a founding partner of First Capital. However this error was corrected within days; and in due course Kuczynski sued Dammert for defamation and falsification of documents. Kuczynski's suit was upheld at first and second instance, but on appeal to Peru's Supreme Court Dammert's right to opine on matters of public interest was upheld, without ruling on the merits of Dammert's claims, which have been discussed extensively by Kuczynski.
After working with the Toledo administration, he founded Agua Limpia, a Peruvian non-governmental organization that provides drinking water systems to communities in Peru. Agua Limpia is supported by the Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
, Scotia Bank of Canada and others.
On December 1, 2010, Kuczynski announced that he was a candidate for president of Peru in the upcoming elections
Peruvian general election, 2011
The Peruvian general election, 2011 took place on 10 April 2011. Since no candidate received more than half of all valid votes, a second round was necessary to determine the winner. This second round took place on 5 June and determined the successor of Alan García, as well as 130 members of the...
. Kuczynski ran for president of Peru in the general election, though he did not pass into the run-off as head of the Alianza por el Gran Cambio
Alliance for the Great Change
- Constituent Parties :*Christian People's Party , Christian democratic and conservative, chaired by Lourdes Flores*Alliance for Progress , led by César Acuña...
(Alliance for the Great Change), formed by the Christian People's Party
Christian People's Party (Peru)
The Christian People's Party is a center-right and conservative political party based on Christian Democracy. It was founded in 1966 by a group of Peruvian Christian Democracy dissidents, led by Luis Bedoya Reyes....
, the Alliance for Progress
Alliance for Progress (Peru)
The Alliance for Progress is a Peruvian political party. At the legislative elections held on 9 April 2006, the party won 2.3% of the popular vote but no seats in the Congress of the Republic....
, the Humanist Party and the National Restoration
National Restoration
National Restoration is a Peruvian political party controlled by Evangelical Christians and associated with Christian fundamentalism...
.
Family and personal life
His father, Dr. Max Hans Kuczynski, born in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
was a renowned pathologist and tropical disease specialist, in particular expert on verruga peruana or Carrion's disease. He trained at the Universities of Rostock and Berlin, where he was professor of pathology. An officer in the German army on the Eastern and Turkish fronts in the First World War, he travelled widely in Russia, China, West Africa, and Brazil. Leaving Germany in 1933, he was invited to Peru in 1936 by president Óscar R. Benavides
Óscar R. Benavides
Óscar Raymundo Benavides Larrea , prominent Peruvian field marshal, diplomat and politician, and was the President of Peru from 1914 to 1915 and from 1933 to 1939.- Early life :...
to set up the public health service in the interior of the country. Dr. Kuczynski reformed the San Pablo leprosarium on the Amazon at the Brazilian frontier, set up a public health colony on the Perene river, and was later professor of tropical medicine at San Marcos University in Lima.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard has been married twice: first with Jane Dudley Casey (daughter of Joseph E. Casey
Joseph E. Casey
Joseph Edward Casey was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. Born in Clinton, he attended the public schools, served as a private in the United States Army at Camp Lee, Virginia in 1918, and was graduated from the Boston University School of Law in 1920. He was admitted to the bar...
, member of congress for the 3rd district of Massachusetts), their offspring being Carolina Madeleine Kuczynski, the journalist Alex Kuczynski
Alex Kuczynski
Alexandra Louise Kuczynski is a reporter for the New York Times, a columnist for the New York Times Magazine and the author of the award-winning 2006 book Beauty Junkies about the cosmetic surgery industry...
, and the philosopher John-Michael Kuczynski. His current wife is Nancy Lange with whom he has had a daughter. Kuczynski's younger brother Miguel Jorge is a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
; and their first cousin is Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
, the renowned French-Swiss film director.
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