Ambassador Federico A. Humbert was sworn in as the Panamanian Ambassador to the United States on December 9, 2004. He was born in Panama City, Panama. He completed his high-school studies at La Salle School of Panama City in 1977. He then went on to earn a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in 1982. In 1983, he earned a degree from the Top Management Program of INCAE, a non-profit, multinational, higher education organization with strong ties to Harvard Business School.
Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Humbert excelled as a highly successful member of Panama's business sector in a career that focused on commercial fishing and media. He served for 22 years as the CEO of the Pearl Island Seafood Corporation, a major seafood processing plant, and of the Pearl Island Materials Corporation. He has also served as the CEO of the Industrial Fishery Corporation and the Panama Trucking Corporation, Inc. Beyond his business ventures, Ambassador Humbert is a member of the Young Presidents´ Organization, an international organization of global leaders that focuses on education and idea exchange.
In 1996, Ambassador Humbert began to serve on the Board of Directors of the Editorial House for La Prensa, the newspaper with the highest circulation in Panama and a key contributor in the reestablishment of Panamanian democracy after 21 years of dictatorial regime. His work on the board of La Prensa culminated with his election to the presidency of the paper in 2002, and office he held until 2004. During his tenure as President of the newspaper, he implemented a successful reengineering of the whole company and in 2003, under his leadership, the Editorial House launched a second publication that has been extremely successful.
Ambassador Humbert has also always been an active participant in Panamanian politics, although his position as President of La Prensa required him to remain independent of any political party. When appointed by President Martín Torrijos after the Presidential election in May of 2004, Ambassador Humbert set a number of important objectives for his mission in Washington that seek to address Panama's political, socio-economic and security concerns. These objectives specifically include the signing and passing of a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, the promotion of investments, tourism and retirement in Panama, and expanding relations with NGOs in order to obtain more funding in the areas of education, health and professional training. Alongside these, other objectives that also figure prominently in his agenda are the promotion of the project of the Panama Canal expansion and increasing security cooperation between the United States and Panama.
Ambassador Humbert is married to Daphne R. de Humbert and has four children: Angelique Marie (19), Federico Antonio (17), Andrés Felipe (15), and Iván Raúl (12).