Vicente "Vincent" S. Pérez Jr. (born May 26, 1958) is a Filipino environment advocate and renewable energy investor. Education Pérez entered the University of the Philippines and was active in extra-curricular activities, becoming national president of AIESEC Philippines, the national chapter of the international association of business and economics students. He graduated with a degree in Business Economics in 1980. After his college graduation, he took an AIESEC internship with the international department of New Jersey National Bank in Trenton New Jersey. Pérez then earned his MBA at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania in 1983, majoring in international finance. Career Financial career Upon graduation from Wharton, he joined Mellon Bank's International Banking Department in Pittsburgh and completed their international credit training program. Pérez was assigned as a Latin American credit analyst and later as Mexico and Central America desk officer. In 1985, he joined Mellon's debt trading team, and was one of the early pioneers in emerging markets debt trading, focusing on Latin American and Philippine debt. In 1986, Pérez then joined Lazard Brothers & Co in London as part of its debt trading team. The following year he moved to Lazard Frères & Co. in New York as a debt trader and investment banker. At 35, he became a general partner of Lazard Frères in 1994 as co-head with Edgar Legaspi of its Emerging Markets Group, becoming one of the highest-ranking Asian bankers on Wall Street, and was named one of the 100 Emerging Markets Superstars by Global Finance magazine. In 1994, Pérez relocated to Singapore as one of the founding managing directors of Lazard Asia. In 1997, Pérez left Lazard to set up Next Century Partners, a private equity firm based in Singapore, teaming up with Patrick Go, Dennis Mendiola, John Wallace, and Eduardo Martinez-Miranda. They invested in companies such as Smart Communications, Del Monte Pacific, and in semiconductor assembly. Among the co-investors of Next Century Partners were Soros Fund, Mitsui, and one of the Bass Brothers of Fort Worth Texas. Political advisor In early 2001 Pérez was recruited by his former academic adviser and newly sworn Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to join her administration. He served briefly as Undersecretary for Industry at the Department of Trade and Industry and as Managing Head of the Board of Investments. He then served from 2001 to 2005 in the Cabinet of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo