TFAS Santiago

Nikolai Wenzel is a Professor of Economics at the online start-up Universidad de las Hespérides, where he directs the English-language MA program in economics. He is a Research Fellow of the Institut Economique Molinari (Paris France); from 2008 to 2019, he was a Research Fellow at the University of Paris Law School (Center for Law & Economics). Dr. Wenzel has held appointments as Associate Professor at Flagler College, Visiting Assistant Professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, and Wallace and Marion Reemelin Chair in Free-Market Economics (Assistant Professor) at Hillsdale College.

Dr. Wenzel has a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University (where he was an H.B. Earhart fellow) and a BSFS cum laude in international affairs from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Dr. Wenzel is a former Foreign Service Officer with the US State Department; for two years, he worked at the US Embassy in Mexico City, where he was vice consul and special assistant to the US ambassador. He subsequently worked for various free-market think tanks while completing his doctoral coursework.

Dr. Wenzel is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society, the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, and the Association of Private Enterprise Education. He sat for four years on the Executive Committee of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is currently on the Board of Scholars of the Foundation for Economic Education. From 2014 to 2019, he taught political economy for the Asia Institute of Political Economy, co-sponsored by George Mason University and the Fund for American Studies at Hong Kong University.

Dr. Wenzel has published more than fifty scholarly articles and book chapters, and is the co-author of a book on the libertarian-conservative debate (Stanford University Press, 2016). He is on the editorial board of Cosmos and Taxis and the Journal des Libertés. Since January 2020, he has been the editor of the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy.

When not writing on political economy, Dr. Wenzel dabbles in wine economics. He is a member of the Georgetown Chimes, Georgetown University’s male a cappella singing group, and a novice bluegrass guitar picker and singer. He has traveled to 61 countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe, and to 49 US states. He is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, with conversational German and Italian.

Soledad Bertelsen Simonetti holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Laws (LLM) from Harvard University in the United States.

She also obtained a Law Degree from Universidad de los Andes and now teaches at the Law School of her alma mater and specializes in Constitutional Law and Human Rights.

Juan Ignacio Brito is a professor in the School of Communication at Universidad de los Andes and served as dean of the department from 2013 – 2020. He is also the Associate Opinion Editor at the newspaper, La Tercera, and previously worked at El Mercurio and Qué Pasa.

Brito is a graduate of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He received his Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Carlos Budnevich Le-Fort is a professor of Finance at the ESE School of Business at the Universidad de los Andes. He is the author of several academic publications in specialized magazines and books in Chile and abroad.

Budnevich previously taught at the Institute of Economics of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and at the Faculties of Administration and Economics of the University of Chile and Finis Terrae. He worked as an Economist in the Department of Studies of the Superintendent of Banks, CIEPLAN and then in the Central Bank of Chile, of which he became Manager of Financial Analysis. Budnevich also served as Coordinator of the Capital Market Commission of the Tantauco Groups.

He graduated as a Commercial Engineer from the University of Chile, and did his postgraduate studies in the United States, reaching the degree of Doctor of Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.