TED Community » Jose Fernandez Calvo

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About Me

A serial entrepreneur born and raised in Buenos Aires, got a true multicultural upbringing between both the Anglo and Spanish cultures. Fortunate to spend part of the childhood at the family "estancia" (ranch) which provided a good mix of country and big-city cultures.

Unrelentingly curious and a bookworm from an early age, soon realized that neither singing nor law provided full career satisfaction, ended up working (and travelling the world) in the maritime industry until 2010 when it became possible to indulge full time in that entrepreneurial vocation.

Education:
- University of Oxford – Master of Business Administration.
- Universidad de Buenos Aires – Lawyer – Specialization in Business Law.
- Universidad de Buenos Aires – Bachelor in Law.
- St. Andrew’s Scots School – Buenos Aires - Bachiller /High School Certificate.

Experience as Educator at Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE)
- Professor of Strategic Management (since 2001)
- Professor of Industrial Strategies in Biotechnology (since 2007)

Experience as Entreprenuer:

+ Founder and CEO at Distrilate SA (2011) a company providing transport, storage and distribution of energy and fuels.

+ Founder and CEO at Latedis SA (2006) a company that trains mobile phone sales persons for carriers and retailers through seminars and e-learning. Additionally, Latedis provides consulting services in training and sales channel communications.

+ Co-Founder and Director at Grupo FKS (2007) a real estate development company focused on urban renewal by recycling derelict buildings, and then renting them as offices, homes, etc.

+ Co- Founder and CEO at Site (2000-2001). An online training company aimed at giving sales staff of car retailers a college degree in marketing through e-learning. The company folded during the 2001 crisis in Argentina.

Experience working for others:

+ P&O Maritime Services Pty Ltd - (2004-2010) - Commercial & Marketing Manager for South America - Developed a new business units including the purchase of a river barging company on the Parana/Paraguay Waterway.

+ Agencia Maritima Internacional / Ultramar Argentina SA (1988-1999 and 2001-2004)
- Manager Freight Forwarding. Responsible for freight forwarding business unit.
- Manager Offshore & Projects. Responsible for the management of a division that provides support services to the Oil & Gas industry in Patagonia
- Manager Travel Agency. Responsible for a small in-house travel agency (IATA) specializing in seamen and business travel.
- Projects Manager. Analysed investment projects and business development plans for AMI and other companies of the von Appen group.
- Trainee Shipbroker/Shipoperator (Buenos Aires, Copenhagen & Hamburg)

Location:
Argentina, Buenos Aires
Current organization:
Latedis SA
Current role:
President
Gender:
Male
Areas of expertise:
Strategy Development, E-learning, Oil & Gas / Shipping / Offshore, Education & Training
I am:
Atheist, Change Agent, Connector, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Idea generator, Investor, Single, World traveler
Languages:
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
My website links:
Latedis SA
Universities:
University of Oxford, University of Buenos Aires
TED conferences attended:
TED2013, TEDActive 2012, TED2011, TED2010, TED2009
Member Picture

TEDCRED 500+ TED AttendeeAssociateTED TranslatorTEDx Organizer

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Finding a way to fight government corruption with technology. Maybe by making it harder for "third world" crooks to invest their I'll gotten gains in the "first world".

An idea worth spreading

Legalize all recreational drugs.The damage the illegal drug trade is doing now around the world is surely larger than the damage from potential increase in drug use due to legalization.Treat them just like smoking, fight them through awareness and control them within the law.

Talk to me about

How can we fight corruption using technology?

People don't know that I'm good at

Driving cattle cross country on horseback. Singing at weddings.

My TED Story

I found TED while seaching online for talks by Richard Dawkins. I fell in love with TED at first sight, watched tons of videos online and cheekly applied for membership, Long Beach 2013 will be my fifth TED conference.

Comments

  • TEDCred score: +2430.90 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • +2

    A comment on Conversation: What leads us to decide?

    Apr 10 2013: Todays TED.com talk is especially relevant. I saw it live at TEDxRiodelaPlata and loved it! Worth watching!

    http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_what_makes_us_feel_good_about_our_work.html

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 3 2013: Hola Debbie,
    I was not aware of Mr. Coyne being referenced by TED, I'll look it up, but that debate really belongs in another thread.
    Happy that we can agree ref WestHollywood.
    Saludos,
    Jose
  • +1

    A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 3 2013: Hola Debbie,

    Your comment: "it gave an impression of a TED board dancing to the tune of a particular kind of world view". Is loaded and unkind. The TED organization is nobody's puppet, they make up their own mind and have started a worldwide revolution in the distribution of ideas.

    Neither Jerry Coyne nor the CEO of Koch Industries are on the TED Brain Trust, nor affiliated with the TED organization. So why use them to question TED transparency?

    You claim the pulling of the TEDx license from WestHollywood was not transparent, but...

    You know WHAT happened: WestHollywood lost the TEDx licence.
    You know WHY the pulled the licence: Content of the talks.
    You know WHO pulled the licence: TEDx team.
    You know HOW they pulled the licence: by informing the licencee.
    You know WHERE they pulled the licence: TED's NY office.
    You know WHEN they pulled the licence: March 2013.

    I agree the decision is debatable, and here we are, debating it ad-nauseam.

    But it was a transparent decision!
  • +1

    A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 3 2013: Ooops, I see how thats a bummer for you, but then again, we all struggle to find funding for our TEDx events. As Grandma said: "Where there is a will there is a way!" Good luck!
  • +1

    A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 3 2013: Debbie, thanks for the kudos, much appreciated. I'm engaging in a debate with you because you seem like a reasonable person, with an honest question (meaning you will change your mind if shown evidence) :)

    Regrettably when I got into this discussion earlier I failed to realize that a group of trolls recently joined this community with no interest in it beyond bashing TED because they are unhappy their idols were "disrespected". I regret having "fed" them which keeps them trolling on a bit more ... :(

    But to answer your reiterated question: Remember that TED is a very small organization (see list of staff) ... Who else could they be referring to?

    Looking at that list gives you a clear indication of the range of people advising TED and you can infer what kind of advice TED is getting.

    Also having met and talked with most of the TED management and staff at the different conferences I'm convinced they are honest, dedicated and hard working people trying their best to spread great ideas around the world.

    TED could not exist if it did not curate its talks. And there will always be people unhappy that TED cut this or that idea (which I assume is your case).

    But I think its unfair to say the TEDx team was not transparent their revocation of the WestHollywood TEDx license, or that TED is not a transparent organization. Can we agree on that?

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Debbie, the list of advisers you claim is secret and that leads you to believe TED does not practice a healthy transparency has been published in the "About Us" section of the website for years. See the list of the "Brain Trust" at http://www.ted.com/pages/about

    Can you now accept that TED is acting in a healthy transparent way?
  • +1

    A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Hola Debbie,

    Too much transparency would be bad, as is the case with all good things.

    "Making personal medical histories of TED employees public" would be more transparent but a bad idea. This silly example should make my point that what we want is not FULL transparency, but the best balance possible between the interests of the different parties involved. An example of this is that I like the fact that the TED profile does not publish my email. The question is what level of transparency is best for the TED community/organization as a whole.

    As I understand it TED has to go out and ask for opinions on specific technical/scientific issues, these experts/scientists are not paid for their time and effort. If their names and opinions were made public, then I suspect they might be less candid or less inclined to give an opinion at all. The TED team would lose a vital element to help them make a decision.

    Well, in spite of your previous protestations in your second paragraph you go back to the "other" issue of "Vetoed"/"Censored" talks. The fact that they explain why they changed the communication channel for these talks is what makes it transparent. The fact that some people don't agree with the explanation does not make it any less transparent, it makes it debatable.

    Going back to WestHollywood. They discussed it privately with the licencee, but failed to agree on the content. So they clearly explained to the public why they pulled the WestHollywood license. That is transparency at its best.

  • A reply on Conversation: Does the scientific establishment unwittingly suffer from paradigm bias? Does it assume incorrect axioms of existence?

    Apr 2 2013: So we mostly agree. The "scientific establishment" is a morphing memeplex, just like the government of a country where yesterdays rebels/terrorists are tomorrows rulers/oppressors.

    I still think you are a bit narrow in accepting the existence of only one paradigm at any given time, I think many coexist at the same time, as many as persons are out there. All of them fighting for dominance like genes in a gene-pool.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Steve:
    I have rephrased my question to avoid deflection. See above. But I'd like to point out that you have made an extraordinarily large amount of comments (about 400 in the last 10 days or so) ALL about these two issues. You hide behind a blank profile, a fake name, and photoshopped image. You show no interest in TED beyond bashing it on this particular issue. A better example of a cowardly troll you would struggle to find.

    Debbie Gallagher and I may differ on one or two issues but she is a real member of the community expressing her views in a constructive way. That is a debate worth engaging in.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Wian:

    TED has the right to decide what ideas they want to spread. They clearly indicated why they changed the distribution channel and explained the reason and the mechanics of the decision = That is transparency.

    Your profile has no photo and it is blank except for your (fake?) name = that is not transparency.

    You understand the difference now?
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