+ Fellows
César Álvarez
International Security, Geopolitics, and Diplomacy
PhD Candidate at University of New South Wales, BA in Government and International Relations at Universidad Externado de Colombia. Double MA in Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism with MA in International Security Studies at Macquarie University. Co-founder of the Australia-Colombia Dialogue.
He has worked for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and has advised the Counter-Narcotics Directorate and the Doctrine and Planning Office of the National Police of Colombia. He currently lectures at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, and has previously taught at the Police Academy, the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Universidad Javeriana, and Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Colombia.
Juan Sebastián Arango
Lawyer
Lawyer, with a Masters Degree in Economic Law. Social and entrepreneurial accelerator. Has specialized in facilitating consensus and generating development in different sectors of Latin America.
Former Presidential Counsellor for Youth of the Colombian Presidency; former Director of Public and Corporate Affairs at the National Association of Retailers (FENALCO, acronym in Spanish); former Private Secretary of the Minister of Defense; consultant in public and government affairs.
Felipe Buitrago Restrepo
Economist
BA in Economics at Universidad de los Andes and Master in International Public Policy at the School of Advanced International Studies – Johns Hopkins University, with over 20 years’ experience in creative and cultural economy and IT. Former Viceminister for the Creative and Orange Economy; former Minister of Culture and former ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.
His contributions in public policy design and numerous publications have been acknowledge both in Colombia and internationally as a reference in the fields of the creative economy and the fourth industrial revolution.
Faryde Carlier González
Economist
Economist at the Universidad Santo Tomas, specialized in International Business at the Universidad Externado de Colombia. Currently enrolled in a Master’s degree in International Economic Law.
Former Director of Economic, Social, and Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she led Colombia’s team for environmental and sustainable development multilateral negotiations; she also held theh position of Foreign Relations Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations in New York and was part of the office of international affairs at the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce.
Juan Diego Corredor
Lawyer
Lawyer, specialized in Administrative Law at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, with a Masters Degree in Digital Business at Esade Business School. Has worked for law firms; at the Colombian migratory authority; was Director of Regulation at iNNpulsa, Colombia’s agency for the promotion of innovation; Manager for Strategy at El Colombiano media group; has been a consultant in the fields of entrepreneurship and public policy. Active member of the International Foundation for Liberty.
Iván Durán
Economist
BA and MSc in Economics at Universidad Nacional de Colombia; PhD in Applied Economics at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Passionate about driving social and economic development through the power of technology. Extensive experience in public policy for ICT, digital transformation, innovation, and applied research in economics.
High Commissioner for ICT of Bogotá, Former Vice Minister of Digital Transformation, and Director of Digital Development at the National Planning Department. He has also worked for think tanks such as Fedesarrollo and CERAC, and has taught the seminar Digital Society and Economic Development at Universidad Externado de Colombia.
Silverio Gómez Carmona
Economist and journalist
University professor. Was Chief of Planning at the Ministry of Finance of Colombia; member of the Advisory Board for Currency Exchange at the Central Bank; Advisor to the Chief of the National Planning Department. As a journalist, he managed Economic and Political content and was the multimedia and economic editor at El Tiempo news corporation. Also held the position of President of the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Ibagué and was President of the Induarroz bussiness association. More recently, he was Director of Procolombia and trade attaché of the Colombian Embassy in Spain.
Lisandro Junco
Lawyer
Francisco Mejía
Entrepreneurship and economic development
MBA and MSc in Finance at Louisiana State University with a certificate and Global Management at INSEAD.
Has worked in finance in multinational companies in the United States, Mexico and Colombia. Has also exercised journalism as an analyst for Blu Radio, Semana magazine and La Republica newspaper. Chaired the Banco Agrario (agriculture development bank) in Colombia. Is currently a professor of Strategy at the business school at Universidad IE in Madrid and is a part of the Startup Wise Guys investment fund and business accelerator, where he provides advisory and mentoring on strategy and finance for startups that are part of its portfolio.
Andrés Rugeles
Political Scientist
Political scientist at Universidad de los Andes, with an emphasis on Economics and Latin American Studies; MSc in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics. Associate Member at Oxford University; member of the Advisory Board at the Global South Unit at LSE and international academic affiliated at Cornell University.
Former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Colombian Mission to the United Nations in New York; former Presidential Secretary for Transparency; Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Secretary General, Chief of Staff, General Advisor and Director – Representative of CAF – Latin American Development Bank.
Federico Rivas
Government and diplomacy
Social entrepreneur with broad experience working with NGOs in violence prevention and youth activism.
He has a BA in Government at Georgetown University, an MA from Harvard, and Mst in Diplomatic Studies at Oxford, and is currently pursuing a MPP at the Blavatnik School of Government.
Co-founder of Cinetour, a social enterprise providing free cinema in rural communities across Central America. In 2016, he was awarded the ‘Heroes of El Salvador‘ prize for his organization’s work in peacebuilding. Recently he served as Co-Chair of the Advisory Council of the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum. Federico is a Lean IN Leader at the Sheryl Sandberg Foundation and Chair of Global Dignity El Salvador.
Paola Tamayo
Lawyer
BA in law and MA in economics at Universidad del Rosario. Public Policy leader with over 10 years of experience in senior management and advisory roles across public and private sector. Pro-democracy activist. Her contributions in public policy design have been focused on rural development and energy transition.
Former vice president of Colombian Farmers Society (SAC for its abbreviation in Spanish), former chairman of the board of Government Agencies, was advisor to the Deputy Minister of Energy, where she led the first research pilot projects for unconventional fossil fuels, also served as chief of staff of two Congressmen and legal advisor to the Insurance Federation.
Andrés Valencia
Economist
BSc in Economics at Universidad de los Andes with over 30 years’ experience in public policy, international trade negotiations, foreign trade, financial sector and business associations.
Former Director of the Financial Institutions Guarantees Fund of Colombia (Spanish acronym FOGAFIN); minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; CEO of the National Federation of Poultry producers (FENAVI); commercial manager at the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation and representative for the Asia-Pacific markets, based in Tokyo. Was also Director General at the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA); advisor at the Foreign Trade Council; delegate of Colombia to the World Trade Organization and international trade negotiator.
Tatiana Watson
Environmental Engineer
Environmental Engineer at Universidad el Bosque, Specialist in Environmental Management in Global Contexts at Universidad Externado de Colombia. Currently a student at the Master of Environmental Management (MEM) at Yale University.
Environmental manager, driven to accelerate action towards a sustainable future through the design and implementation of processes and multi stakeholder collaboration. Experienced public servant at the national and local levels, was the manager of the National Strategy on Contracts for Natural Conservation, advisor to the Viceminister of Environmental Territorial Planning and Private Secretary of the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia. Has been a part of International Visitors program of the United States of America on Women, Peace and Security as well as of the Climate Policy Lab (CPL) at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
