In his tenure, he led a pioneering shift to reshape the tourism landscape for sustainability and inclusivity. He championed the positioning of Panama as a sustainable adventure travel destination, through the empowerment of rural and indigenous communities to become stewards of their surrounding ecosystems and guardians of their ancestral heritage.

This positioning helped secure Panama as a host of the Adventure Travel World Summit 2024, and has helped achieve a record-setting number of international visitors in the 1st semester of 2023, with over 1.3 million visitors.

Today, Ivan is embarking on an exciting journey back to the private sector, as a senior advisor to tourism and hospitality companies, and leading innovative regenerative luxury travel enterprises, focused on preserving Panama’s extaordinary mega-biodiversity, and rich, authentic cultures.”

Current LUSH Ambassador for Panamá.