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WHO WE ARE
Intermestic Partners is a cross-border advisory firm built at the intersection of business, diplomacy, and economic development across the Americas. We help entrepreneurs, investors, and institutions navigate the complex landscape where U.S. and international interests meet — turning geopolitical complexity into competitive advantage.
The word “intermestic” captures our core belief: the most important opportunities of our time exist at the intersection of international forces and domestic realities. That’s where we live. That’s where we work.
CORE SERVICES
Cross-Border Advisory & Economic Diplomacy
We advise clients on market entry, binational partnerships, and stakeholder engagement across the U.S.-Mexico corridor and broader Latin America. With deep relationships across the public and private sectors, we translate policy shifts into actionable business strategy.Nearshoring & Supply Chain Integration
As companies look to reduce dependence on distant supply chains, North America has emerged as the strategic answer. Intermestic Partners helps businesses identify, evaluate, and execute nearshoring opportunities — particularly in high-growth sectors like semiconductors, energy, and logistics.Investment Strategy & EB-5 Capital
Through Intermestic Capital, we structure innovative investment pathways — including EB-5 projects — that connect international investors to U.S. communities while generating job creation and economic growth. We believe smart capital should build things that last.National Security & Trade Policy Navigation
In today’s environment, trade policy is national security policy. We help clients understand and navigate the intersection of tariffs, customs enforcement, USMCA compliance, and supply chain security — drawing on executive-level experience overseeing the largest trade and law enforcement agency in the United States.Homeland & Border Security Technology
Intermestic Partners serves as a strategic advisor and government relations partner on next-generation security technology initiatives operating across the Western Hemisphere. We help innovative platforms navigate the U.S. federal, state, and local government landscape — connecting technology solutions to the agencies and decision-makers that need them most.Reputation Strategy
In a digital world, trust is your most valuable asset and your most fragile one. We work with leaders, institutions, and brands to protect and advance their reputations across borders and across media environments.WHY INTERMESTIC
Most firms see the U.S.-Mexico border as a line. We see it as a corridor of opportunity.
Our team brings together executive experience at the highest levels of U.S. government, state commerce leadership, and the private sector — combined with authentic, binational relationships built over decades. We don’t just understand both sides of the border. We grew up there.
The issues shaping our clients’ futures — nearshoring, critical minerals, energy cooperation, tariffs, national security, border technology — are the same issues driving our research and public thought leadership. That alignment isn’t coincidence. It’s by design.
TRADE IS NATIONAL SECURITY
“Trade is no longer just an economic issue. It is a national security issue. And very few people in the private sector have sat at both tables.”
The current environment has made one thing clear: companies that treat trade policy and national security as separate conversations are operating with a blind spot. Today’s U.S. trade strategy — from tariffs on Canada and Mexico to supply chain audits, customs enforcement, and hemispheric security frameworks — is inseparable from national security doctrine.
Intermestic Partners was built for exactly this moment. Our founder served as Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under President Obama, overseeing a $13 billion budget and more than 60,000 personnel — the largest trade and law enforcement agency in the United States. That experience means we understand how decisions made in Washington translate into enforcement action at the border, and how businesses and governments can stay ahead of it.
We advise clients on:
- Tariff exposure, USMCA qualification, and customs compliance strategy
- Supply chain security assessments through an ownership, origin, and control lens
- Cross-border investment structures that withstand national security scrutiny
- Navigating increased CBP enforcement and anti-circumvention measures
- Next-generation border security technology and government engagement strategy
- Engaging stakeholders at the federal, state, and binational level
When the rules of trade change this fast, the firms that survive are the ones with advisors who helped write them.
ABOUT MARCO A. LÓPEZ, JR.
Marco A. López, Jr. is the Founder and CEO of Intermestic Partners and Intermestic Capital. His career is best understood not as a sequence of jobs, but as a lifelong practice of building things — cities, agencies, companies, and coalitions — at the intersection of two countries.
From the Border Up
Marco became one of the youngest mayors in U.S. history when he took office in Nogales, Arizona at age 21, shortly after graduating from the University of Arizona. Nogales is Arizona’s largest border community — a city where economic life flows in both directions across the line every day. Leading it gave Marco a ground-level understanding of cross-border commerce, binational relationships, and what it actually takes to move goods, people, and capital across an international boundary.
Director, Arizona Department of Commerce (now the Arizona Commerce Authority)
Governor Janet Napolitano asked Marco to serve as Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce, where he oversaw the state’s trade relationships, foreign direct investment strategy, and business development programs. This role gave him deep experience in the mechanics of economic development — recruiting companies, building international partnerships, and positioning Arizona as a globally competitive destination. The agency he led is now the Arizona Commerce Authority (azcommerce.com), one of the most active economic development organizations in the country.
Chief of Staff, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Obama Administration)
President Obama asked Marco to serve as Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection — the largest law enforcement and trade agency in the United States. He oversaw a $13 billion budget and more than 60,000 personnel. At CBP, Marco received daily national security intelligence briefings and managed the full scope of the agency’s mission: securing the border, facilitating lawful trade and travel, and enforcing U.S. customs and immigration law. He sat at the table where trade policy, national security, and international diplomacy converge — an experience that shapes Intermestic’s advisory work to this day.
Private Sector & Entrepreneurship
Since leaving government in 2011, Marco has channeled his public-sector experience into building private enterprises with real-world impact. His work has helped connect over one million low-income families to high-speed internet across the U.S. His entrepreneurship in Arizona is on track to create 16,000 jobs. Through Intermestic Capital, he leads EB-5 investment projects that fund community development while providing international investors a pathway to U.S. residency.
Marco also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Carlos Slim Foundation, where he advances digital inclusion, vocational training, and economic empowerment initiatives across the United States.
Memberships & Recognition
- Member, Council on Foreign Relations
- Member, The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation & Public Policy Committee
- Member, U.S. Department of Commerce Arizona District Export Council
- Man of the Year, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Cause for Change Award, Chicanos Por La Causa
OUR ROOTS IN ARIZONA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Long before Arizona became a national story in semiconductors, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing, the groundwork was being laid quietly — through trade relationships, business recruitment, and economic diplomacy at the state level.
Marco López served as Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce — the agency now known as the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) — under Governor Janet Napolitano. In that role, he was responsible for strengthening Arizona’s international trade profile, building relationships with foreign investors, and positioning the state as a destination for global business. The industries that define Arizona’s economy today — technology, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, bioscience — were the same industries his team worked to attract and grow.
The Arizona Commerce Authority today continues that mission as the state’s primary economic development organization. Intermestic Partners maintains a close working relationship with ACA and the broader Arizona economic ecosystem, ensuring our clients benefit from state-level resources, incentives, and networks as they evaluate opportunities in the region.
Marco’s work at the Arizona Department of Commerce gave him a front-row seat to how economic development actually works — not just the ribbon cuttings, but the relationships, the negotiations, and the long-term strategy that brings world-class companies to a state.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Semiconductors & Tech Supply Chain
The Nogales-to-Phoenix corridor as America’s next strategic advantage in chip manufacturing and tech resilience.
Energy Cooperation
U.S.-Mexico energy ties as an untapped partnership that could transform North America’s grid and fuel security.
Critical Minerals
Why minerals are the new geopolitical currency — and how North America can lead the global race for resources.
EB-5 & Investment Immigration
Entrepreneurs as strategic investors in American communities, creating jobs and a pathway to U.S. residency.
Nearshoring & Supply Chain
Building resilient North American supply chains that reduce dependence on distant markets and strengthen regional economies.
Reputation & Economic Diplomacy
Turning trusted binational relationships into business outcomes, market access, and long-term competitive advantage.
National Security & Trade Policy
Navigating tariffs, customs enforcement, and supply chain security with insight from the highest levels of U.S. government.
Homeland & Border Security Technology
Advising on next-generation security platforms that extend pre-border intelligence capabilities across the hemisphere.
Ready to Move Forward?
Let’s discuss how we can support your strategy across borders, policy, and investment.