Enrique Eskenazi is an Argentine businessman born in the province of Santa Fe in 1925, with a long-standing career in the business world.
Eskenazi studied at School No. 25 Vicente López y Planes in the city of Santa Fe. He graduated as a chemical engineer from the National University of the Litoral (UNL), later specializing in food engineering at the Research Department of Continental Can Corp. and the Institute of Food Technology, both in Chicago (USA). At age 17, he was imprisoned for four months as a political prisoner for supporting the retention of professors who had been removed during the 1943 Revolution.
He served as vice president of YPF and currently holds the positions of vice president of Santa Sylvia, president of Petersen, Thiele y Cruz, Banco Santa Fe, Banco Entre Ríos, and Mantenimientos y Servicios.
He launched and presides over the Grupo Petersen Foundations, which include four solidarity-based foundations: Fundación Banco San Juan, Fundación Banco Santa Cruz, Fundación Banco Santa Fe, and Fundación Banco Entre Ríos. He was also a founding member of the Interreligious Dialogue Society “Conocer”.
Trajectory
Eskenazi began his business career at Bunge & Born, then the most important company in Argentina and a global reference. He held executive positions such as Production Manager at Centenera Fábrica Sudamericana de Envases, General Manager at Compañía Envasadora Argentina, and sat on the boards of several group companies. Simultaneously, he was a contributing member of CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), executive committee member of CAVI (Argentine Chamber of Industrialized Vegetables), executive secretary of the food sector of ALALC (Latin American Free Trade Association), founding member and president of CITEF (Research Center for Fruit and Vegetable Preservation), and founding member and president of COPAL (Coordinator of the Food Products Industry). He also served as vice president of Valmarco and president of Giava.
In 1981, he joined Petersen, Thiele y Cruz SA, one of Argentina’s most established construction companies, as a senior executive. Shortly after, he acquired the majority shareholding of the firm. Under his leadership, the company’s foundational activities were strengthened, and a diversification process began, gradually expanding into urban services, finance, agribusiness, and energy sectors. This expansion laid the groundwork for what is now known as Grupo Petersen, one of the most important corporate groups in the country.
During this phase of his business career, engineer Eskenazi served as a business advisor to the Ministry of Public Works for the privatization of railways and ports, counselor of UAC (Argentine Construction Union), and vice president of ABAPPRA (Association of Public and Private Banks of the Argentine Republic)
He has given lectures on food investment opportunities in Argentina in Brussels (Belgium), London (UK), San Francisco and Chicago (USA), and has taught courses and lectures at the National University of the Litoral, the National University of Cuyo, the Argentine Industrial Union, the Banco de Boston Foundation, the Center for Comparative Studies, La Rural, the San Martín Cultural Center, the Argentine Center of Engineers, and the Iron and Steel Institute in Chile. He was invited by the Organization of American States to give specialized conferences in Central America.
Eskenazi has published articles on quality control and packaging standards, as well as on the economic and financial challenges of Argentina’s food preservation industry.