43rd Annual Patterson Lecture: Dr. Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, Panama Canal

Northwestern University Transportation Center's 43rd Annual William A. Patterson Transportation Lecture:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025 | 7:30 PM

Walter Athletics Center

2255 Campus Drive, Evanston, Illinois

Ricaurte Vásquez Morales was appointed Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority for a seven-year period starting September 2019.

Dr. Vásquez is a Panamanian economist with an extensive and successful professional career of 50 years in the government sector and in private companies in financial, economic and administrative management.

Within the public administration he has held prominent positions such as: Minister of Finance and Treasury, Minister of Planning and Economic Policy as well as of Economy and Finance in 2004. He was the first non-US Chief Financial Officer for the Panama Canal and later Deputy Administrator and President of the Board of Directors. In the private sector, his experience covers banking at Chase Manhattan Bank, mining development with Rio Tinto Zinc in the development of the Cerro Colorado copper project. More recently at General Electric with regional responsibilities and covering Gas-to-Power initiatives in Latin America, retiring in 2015 to carry out his professional practice with SIGMA Management Advisors Corp.

Ricaurte Vásquez holds a Ph. D. and M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic, a M.E. from North Carolina State University and a B.S. from Villanova University. He has been a professor of Economics and Finance in Panama and abroad. His professional experience is complemented as a university professor of Economics at Florida State University, at its headquarters in Panama.

PATTERSON LECTURE ORIGIN:

NUTC's annual is named for William A. "Pat" Patterson. A central figure in the United States air transport industry for more than four decades, Patterson served as president and chairman of United Airlines from 1934 until his retirement in 1966. He was a life trustee of Northwestern University and was instrumental in the establishment and strategic leadership of the Northwestern University Transportation Center.

In Patterson's honor, Northwestern established the in 1978. The Patterson Chair serves as an intellectual focal point for transportation research and education at Northwestern, most of which is coordinated through the NUTC.

In 1980, the NUTC established the Patterson Transportation Lecture as an integral part of the Patterson Endowment. It has since become an annual highlight at Northwestern University, drawing influential speakers from all facets of the transportation industry.

Host or Publisher Northwestern University Transportation Center