The Bio
The Bio Since 2002, the MEXPAT has been a monthly social event in the foreign community. Initiated in the Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City, the MEXPAT is also held in Guadalajara and Monterrey. In Canada, the MEXPAT serves the Mexican expat community, in Toronto. Regularly scheduled events are always free of charge to attend. The cash bar and diversity of the crowd are the social elixirs of what has become popular expat events in Mexico.
MEXICO CITY
JOHN GARDNER HT.: 5'8" WT.: 140 lbs BORN: Jan 2, 1969 POSITION: Right Wing (neo-con, really!!!) ACQUIRED: Traded to the MEXPAT for Vladimir Potemkin and a keg of Moosehead (beer). BIO: Spending his junior career with a punk rock band, John was drafted out of the Insurance Industry league where he enjoyed 10 successful years with a Spanish multinational. After the team sold his rights, John signed a one-show deal with a team option for a second with the Polanco Mexpats. During normal working hours, John is the owner of GPC Financial planners.
BRENT STARZACHER This high-quality, Canadian-German product`s brand equity and market presence is beyond doubt, at least for us. The increasing use of terms like "all brent out of shape" and "unbrentmanlike conduct" have made Brent a legend of his own mind. His range and functionality span everything from waste water treatment engineer by day to event planner and fine car junkie by night.
GUADALAJARA
ED JULINE In 2001, with secret aspirations to be a mariachi star, Ed Juline arrived in Guadalajara on an international assignment with IBM. He decided to stay, plant his cactus and hang out as a gringo. Since then, Ed has worked for a couple of maquiladoras (charro suits and hats of course!) and is now the Mexico Sales Manager for MacDermid Autotype. His serenading also paid off, as he married a Mexicana worthy of Jalisco's fame, planted his seed, and is now a proud father of a young "güerito".
MONTERREY
PUERTO VALLARTA
HAROLD HOEKSTRA Harold: This born & raised flying Dutchman arrived for the first time in Mexico in 1998 to do his internship at Deloitte, in Tijuana of all places! (We won’t say whose money he was counting.) Enamored by the Mexican culture and its differences, he returned to start his career in Mexico with Deloitte where he’s still active. In 2009, he woke up and smelled the coffee (actually the Pacific breeze) and hopped a burro to beautiful Puerto Vallarta where he is happily living with his Mexican fiancée, waiting for the right time to have some “Jarochos” running around. In the meantime, he’s working hard (por supuesto, Harold) and enjoying all that the region has to offer.
FERNANDO BARRUTIA Fernando is a chilango, but traded the high valley for the low beach. From vagabonding all around the world, Fernando has about as much experience as an expat as he does as a Mexican. For a variety of international companies, he’s worked the globe over, mostly staying true to his background in sales and marketing. Several years ago he moved to Vallarta to fish and build sandcastles, but the beach life wasn’t action packed enough – he remains involved in the local real estate market and assists locals and foreigners with touristic, cultural and business issues.
TORONTO
LILIANA ALTAMIRANO Liliana has lived in Canada for close to four years and works at a large IT company. An inventory and logistics specialist, she also runs marathons and is actively involved with the young expat Mexican community. She loves her midtown Toronto neighbourhood, but still misses her hometown, Tehuantepec, Oaxaca from time to time.
IAN JARVIE Initiator of the first Mexpat, Ian lived in Mexico City on and off throughout his life, and defines blis as any Wednesday Mexpat night surrounded by friends and a great ambiance. He presently lives in Toronto and indulges in his passions for vintage jeeps and canoing. Ian is believed to exist entirely on tacos al pastor and has no plans to ever do anything about his male pattern baldness.
The MEXPAT relies on the counsel of a distinguished group of members of the foreign and local communities of Mexico. The committee's charge is to advise the organizers of MEXPAT events in four different cities, foster communication and leadership.
MEXPAT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEXICO CITY 
KIM HANSEN
A senior executive, with more than 20 years of successful management experience in the chemical, pharmaceutical
and environmental industries, Kim Hansen is the embodiment of international mobility. Born in Colombia to Danish parents, Kim has lived and worked in more than ten countries. He completed his studies at Babson, where he played varsity hockey and reveled in Boston winters. Kim is the current President of The American Society of Mexico.
ALVARO SALAMANCA 
Alvaro Salamanca is from Bogota¡, Colombia, where he studied and lived for most of his life. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he worked 15 years in Colombia's insurance industry, before being transferred to Mexico in 1999 by an American insurance company as an expatriate and country head. In 2005 Alvaro started his own consulting firm to help insurance companies with their business strategy and investment banking. Over the course of his career, he has trained in all fields of the insurance business, leadership, negotiation and finance in Colombia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States. Besides his involvement as a director of insurers associations, chambers of commerce, the American Society of Mexico, local and multinational insurance companies, his duties as the Chairman of the Colombian Association keep him in constant involvement with the growing Colombian expat community in Mexico.
