Alejandro Cadena
Managing Director

After graduating from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá as an Economist, he worked during five years in investment banking where he had the chance to live in London and New York and to work in M&A projects in Latin America, Europe and the US. He joined Virmax in the summer of 2001 as a partner, and in early 2002 he returned to Colombia to set up Virmax Colombia.

Although Alejandro is now the Managing Director of the Company, his real passion is working with coffee growers. Fortunately he still finds time to handle our relationships with our coffee suppliers, traveling frequently to visit the different coffee growers with whom we work with and to find new and exciting coffees.

Giancarlo Ghiretti
Senior Trader

Giancarlo is one of the original partners of the Company. He graduated in 1999 as an Economist from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. He then moved to the US and then to London, where he founded the company with two other friends.

Since 2001 he has been in charge of Customer Relationships, traveling around the world in order to broaden our ties with the coffee roasters and importers with whom we work. He enjoys cupping with them while sharing some insight on the coffees that we represent and the Colombian coffee industry in general.

Fernando Gómez
Senior Quality Control Analyst

Fernando graduated as a bacteriologist from the Universidad de Caldas. Prior to joining Virmax in 2004 as Senior Quality Control Analyst, he worked in Cenicafe in its Chemistry Lab doing research about coffee quality. There he learned to cup, participating in its cupping panel for over five years.

He is currently in charge of quality control, regularly analyzing all export lots and of quality control training.

Nelson Melo
Cauca and Nariño Coordinator

Nelson has been in the coffee business for more than twenty years, being one of the first persons in Colombia to promote and develop organic certified and Fair Trade coffees, in particular during his involvement in COSURCA and later in CAFICAUCA.

He has worked with Virmax since the end of 2004, helping us to develop our relationships with coffee growers from the regions of Cauca and Nariño. His spare time is dedicated to his family and his small organic coffee farm near Popayán, where he produces a wonderful cup of coffee.

William Ortiz
Junior Quality Control Analyst

A son of a coffee grower from Oporapa, Huila, William first learned to cup coffee in late 2004 in the cupping lab of the San Roque Association, producers of La Cacica Relationship Coffee. We met William in March 2005 during a cupping training session we held at Oporapa. There he made quite an impression on us as the best cupper - even though he was not working full time at the lab. So in July 2005 we brought him to Bogotá to train him. During his three month period in Bogotá he proved he had the potential necessary to become a Virmax cupper.

He returned to Pitalito in October 2005 and is now in charge of quality control and purchasing of all the parchment coffee we buy from the South of Huila.

Leonardo Henao
Popayan Warehouse Manager

Leonardo graduated from the Universidad del Tolima in Ibagué as an Agroindustrial Engineer. He joined Virmax after graduating from college in the summer of 2005 training as a quality control analyst. In December 2005 he moved to Pitalito, Huila to manage our coffee purchasing warehouse.

Leonardo’s first’s forays in the coffee business was during his college years, when he worked as a barista in a coffee shop in Ibagué.

Milena Serrano
Accountant

Milena joined Virmax in May 2006 to replace our former Financial and Administrative Director. She is a certified accountant with a degree from the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá. Although this is Milena’s first job in the coffee industry she has already shown her interest in learning about the business and about coffee in general.

Milena will also continue advising the small coffee growers groups in accounting and tax issues helping to strengthen the associations with whom we work with.