Alvaro Daniel Medina
Retired Colonel, Colombian Army

Alvaro Medina started his security experience in the Colombian Army with over 30 years of management and leadership. Achieving the rank of Colonel, he received national and international recognitions with eighteen medals for distinguished services in the Colombian Army, from the Governments of France, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina.

He developed and led military operations as a Brigade Commander in high-risk areas in Colombia. He graduated in high military studies in the ESGI in Paris and the Continental Defense Course at the Inter-American Defense College in Washington.

He retired from the Army in 1990 and joined Avianca, the first airline in Colombia as CSO responsible for the whole security operation in Colombia and foreign travel destinations in other countries.

In 1993, he was asked to return to the Army as a military strategy teacher in the Escuela Superior de Guerra (War College) for one and a half years, following which he was designated as Security Manager for British American Tobacco Colombia. In his ten years with BAT, Alvaro was recognized for creating a world-class security culture and developing and implementing effective plans and measures to build a security environment against threats such as terrorism, kidnapping and other high risks associated with Colombia.

Alvaro speaks English and French in addition to his native Spanish.