Michael C. Camuñez is President and CEO of Monarch Global Strategies LLC, a binational business advisory firm providing strategic advice, project development assistance, government relations, and supply chain sourcing for companies doing business globally, with a particular emphasis on Mexico and Latin America. Mr. Camuñez has significant experience as a senior executive, independent director, counselor, and advocate advising U.S. companies in domestic and global markets.
He possesses a unique combination of political, legal, economic, corporate governance, and international affairs expertise. He is a frequent commentator on international trade, international economics, and the U.S.-Mexico relationship in the press, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, CNBC’s Squawk Box, and other media outlets. In December 2022, the editorial staff at Bloomberg named Mr. Camuñez “one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the world.”
A graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School, Mr. Camuñez is an Independent Director of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), a Fortune 250 power company, and is an Independent Director of the American Funds, one of the nation’s largest families of mutual funds ($2.6 Trillion AUM) managed by the Capital Group. He is also an Independent Director of Amplify, an EdTech portfolio company funded by Laurene Powell-Jobs’ Emerson Collective, and of Welcome Tech, a SoftBank-backed fintech helping Latino immigrants more successfully integrate into the United States. He is also a Trustee of both Stanford University and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Mr. Camuñez is a Director of the Pacific Council on International Policy and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Camuñez served from 2010 to 2013 as one of the nation’s leading commercial diplomats as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce at the International Trade Administration, where he managed a global portfolio to help lead the U.S. government’s efforts to open new markets for U.S. goods and services. In this role, he visited more than 30 countries to advance U.S. trade and economic policy, helping to expand market access for U.S. industry. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Camuñez led the Commerce Department’s support of key administration-wide commercial and trade initiatives, including the passage of three key free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama, engagement with the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue, the launch of the Doing Business in Africa Campaign, the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic & Economic Cooperation, and many other efforts through multilateral institutions like APEC and ASEAN.
A fluent Spanish speaker, he is most widely recognized for playing a critical role in rebalancing U.S. economic policy toward Mexico. He was the chief architect of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue, which he proposed, coordinated, and later helped launch as a member of President Obama’s delegation and visit to Mexico in May 2013. The HLED was co-chaired by then-Vice President Joe Biden, who reinstituted it as a top bilateral priority upon becoming President.
Concurrent with his appointment as Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Camuñez also served as President Obama’s representative on international economic issues to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, managing the economic dimension of U.S. engagement with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with a particular focus on transparency, trade, and rule of law issues, including promoting Ukraine’s and Eastern Europe’s deeper economic integration with the West.
Mr. Camuñez previously served for two years as Special Counsel to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel, as well as Special Assistant to President Obama. He is a former equity partner of the global law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he had an international practice that included FCPA counseling and compliance.
Mr. Camuñez has been a life-long passionate advocate for the poor, for children and youth, especially Latinos and other historically underrepresented communities, and for national and community service, which he continued through his work as a director of City Year Los Angeles and the Center for Law & Social Policy. Early in his career, Mr. Camuñez was one of the key architects of the AmeriCorps program, through which over a million young people have been able to serve their country.
