Speaker’s biography

Berenice Diaz Ceballos, Consul General of Mexico was born in Mexico City on December 10th 1968. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Universidad Iberoamericana, obtaining honorary mention in her thesis entitled “Human Rights Conference: The treatment of the subject in the New International Context”, winner of the First Contest for the best thesis of Human Rights in 1995, summoned by the National Commission of Human Rights.

Berenice Diaz Ceballos, was designated as Consul General in Vancouver in May 2016. Previously she served as Head Consul in Oxnard, California from May 2013 to June 2016. She has held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. In 2005 she was appointed as Chief of Staff to the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for the political relationship between Mexico and countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. In this capacity she served also as Sous-Sherpa of Mexico for the Group of Five (G5) and since 2007 as Sous-Sherpa for the Group of 20 (G20), including during Mexico’s presidency in 2012.

She also was Deputy Director General for Global Issues, area responsible for coordinating Mexican international policy in multilateral and regional for gender equality, human rights of persons with disabilities, migration, indigenous people, environment and natural resources, sustainable development, drugs control, the fight against corruption and crime prevention issues. Previously she held various positions in the General Direction of the United Nations dealing with political, economic, human rights and humanitarian affairs.

She has participated as head of delegation and member of the Mexican Delegation in many events, international conferences, formal and informal groups of negotiation. She has been a Career Diplomat since 1998. In the academic area, she has taken several courses in International Relations.

Renee Umezuki, Deputy Director, Pacific Regional Office, Global Affairs Canada, has worked for the federal government for more than 20 years. She began her career as a Trade Commissioner in the then Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, with assignments in Ottawa, Jakarta and Tokyo. After focussing on the agriculture sector in Tokyo, she moved to the regional Office of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in BC, where she spent a number of years on trade, industry, and rural community development.

She has recently returned to Global Affairs Canada as Deputy Director of the Regional Office in Vancouver, where she works with a team of Trade Commissioners dedicated to assisting BC and Yukon based clients to expand their business internationally. Renee has a degree in International Relations from UBC, and speaks English, French and Japanese.

Registration

Registration for CIC members only will commence two weeks prior to the event.

Contact Person: Paula Skippon – CIC.Victoria.Sec@gmail.com