María Eugenia Brizuela was born on 31 October 1956 in San Salvador, El Salvador. In 1975, she completed her secondary studies at the American School of El Salvador. She attended the University of Geneva, where she studied French and earned a degree in French language and civilization from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1976. She went on to study law at the José Matías Delgado University and in 1982 graduated with honors, becoming the fourth-generation in her family to earn a law degree. She then earned a master's degree in Business Administration from the Central American Institute of Business Administration. Brizuela worked at the Salvadoran Social Security Institute in 1994 and in 1995 she became the manager of the Fund of Social Investment. She worked as an insurance executive, becoming the first woman in El Salvador to serve as president of an insurance company, Internacional de Seguros where she worked from 1996 to 1999. In 1999, she was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs and was the first woman to head the Ministry. In 2000 the first Hemispheric Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women was held by the Inter-American Commission of Women. Brizuela, and delegates from 32 other countries of the Americas attended to create and adopt the women's strategy for the 21st century. She remained in the government service until 2003, when she left to take a position as president of Banco Salvadoreño, becoming first Salvadoran woman to lead a private bank. In 2006, she received the Distinguished Professional of the Year Award from her alma mater, José Matías Delgado University. She joined HSBC in 2006 as an Executive President and moved up to regional director in 2007. That same year, she earned the Palme d'Or, the most significant award given from the Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2008, she became the Director of Corporate Sustainability at HSBC for Latin America and relocated to Mexico City. She oversees sustainable development projects like a climate initiative in Brazil and a tree-planting project in Costa Rica. In 2009 Brizuela was inducted into the American School Hall of Fame and received the Most Distinguished Graduate award from INCAE. In 2010 was the first woman ever appointed to the board of INCAE. Brizuela has dual Salvadoran and Swiss nationality. She is married to an engineer and they have three children.
