Ricardo Martinelli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ricardo Martinelli (born 11 March 1952, in Panama City) is a Panamanian politician and businessman.
He is the owner of Importadora Ricamar, S.A. (Super 99) Panama's largest chain of supermarkets (and the country's largest private company) and several other business interests.
During the presidency of Ernesto Pérez Balladares (1994–1999) he served from September 1994 to July 1996 as Social Security Director.
He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal Authority and Minister for Canal Affairs from September 1999 to January 2003, during the presidency of Mireya Moscoso (1999–2004).
In the 2004 Panamanian presidential election he was the candidate of the Democratic Change party (CD), of which he is its President.
In October 2004, Ricardo Martinelli founded The Ricardo Martinelli Foundation, of which he is its fundraiser and gives more than 5,000 scholarships to poor students with good scholastic average.
He received a Master Degree in Business Administration and Marketing from University of Arkansas [1], and an MBA from INCAE Business School.
He is married with Marta Linares de Martinelli, with three children.
