Carlos Augusto Suárez Rojas, lawyer and political communication strategist for Abelardo De La Espriella, was elected this Thursday, September 17 as president of the Board of Directors of Ecopetrol, replacing Luis Felipe Henao Cardona.
Suárez had joined the governing body just two days earlier, following the election of a new board during the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on September 15.
The Defenders of the Homeland political party congratulated him on social media although the company has not yet made a statement.
With this change, Ecopetrol begins a new phase in its corporate governance, after a renewal in which six new members were elected and three members who were already part of the body were retained. The board is made up of nine principal members, with no alternates.
A renewed board
In addition to Suárez, the new composition includes Jorge Alberto Jaller Jaramillo, José Camilo Manzur Jattin, Ludmila del Carmen Vergara Rosales, Betzy Patricia Martínez Zapatero and Claudia Margarita Lafaurie Taboada.
The company confirmed that Suárez, Manzur, Martínez, Lafaurie and other members were incorporated as independent members, while Jaller and Vergara are non-independent. César Eduardo Loza Arenas, Ricardo Rodríguez Yee and Luis Felipe Henao remained on the board.
Henao had assumed the presidency of the governing body last July, following the departure of Ángela María Robledo. This Thursday he announced the change and welcomed Suárez and Claudia Lafaurie, who will hold the vice presidency of the board.
The new composition was defined at the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting convened to fully elect the nine members of the board for the remainder of the 2025-2029 institutional period. Ecopetrol’s official documentation includes Suárez among the candidates nominated by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit representing the Nation.
Suárez’s profile
Suárez is a lawyer from the Externado University of Colombia and holds specializations in public management and fiscal control and in criminal law. Before joining Ecopetrol’s board, he engaged in activities related to strategic communication, political consulting, and crisis management.
He is also founder of Estrategia&Poder and during the 2026 presidential campaign was part of the strategic team of Abelardo De La Espriella.
His professional career also includes his time at the Secretariat of the Comptroller’s Office of Cundinamarca and his participation on the board of Cambiamos S.A. Casa de Cambio, according to profiles published about his arrival at Ecopetrol.
Suárez’s election comes as the new board will have to address several decisions related to the future of the oil company. Among them is the process to appoint the permanent president of Ecopetrol, a position currently held by an acting administration.
One of the names mentioned to assume this position is Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero, who led De La Espriella’s presidential campaign. However, his potential appointment is a decision that the new Board of Directors must make through the company’s corporate procedures.
With Suárez’s election, the board is now headed by one of the members who arrived with the renewal approved this week. The composition of the body will be valid for the remainder of the 2025-2029 institutional period.
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