I was born and raised in Uruguay, a country whose institutional tradition and historical trajectory have shaped much of my intellectual orientation. My professional life has developed across Latin America, Europe, and the United States, and each stage has influenced the way I approach economics, data, and public policy. Over the past twenty-five years, I have lived and worked in Chile, Spain, France, and the United States—first in Atlanta, Georgia, and now in Washington, D.C.—while maintaining close academic and professional ties to Uruguay and the wider region.

My academic path reflects a sustained interest in the long-run dynamics of institutions and economic development. I studied cliometrics at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, where I focused on how historical shocks and policy regimes influence modern economic outcomes. Earlier, I completed a full-time MBA in Chile, followed by two Masters of Science in Biostatistics and Data Management in Barcelona, which strengthened my technical grounding in quantitative modeling. This combination of economics, statistics, and history continues to guide my research today.

Before joining the IDB Group, I spent a decade as a senior consultant for the World Bank, IDB, and UNDP, advising governments across Latin America on economic development, competitiveness, and data-driven policy. This work exposed me to institutional heterogeneity in the region and deepened my interest in how states build capacity, how firms evolve under uncertainty, and how data systems shape development outcomes.

In the private sector, I held leadership roles that blended analytics with strategic decision-making. At Equifax Uruguay, I directed data and analytics for the credit information industry, helping strengthen key financial infrastructures. As Chief Data Scientist at Scotiabank Uruguay, I led the development of machine-learning credit models that expanded access to finance while improving portfolio performance. Later, as Global Principal Data Scientist at Coface (France and Spain), I oversaw innovation in alternative data acquisition and global risk modeling, working at the intersection of macro-risk, firm-level behavior, and AI-driven assessment.

My academic research explores development economics, financial econometrics, and applied AI, with a particular focus on survival models, causal graph neural networks, and the economics of information. I have published studies on systemic risk, financial inclusion, fraud detection, institutional change, and data-driven regulation. My book, Machine Learning Survival Models for Economic Analysis (2023), reflects this interdisciplinary lens, bridging econometrics with modern machine-learning methods.

I have been fortunate to receive international recognition for this work, including the EB1A “Einstein” U.S. Green Card for extraordinary ability, Spain’s PEC designation (Aliens with extraordinary abilities), and several industry awards for innovation in data science and analytics.

Today, as Counselor to the Executive Director at the IDB and IDB Invest, I bring together these experiences to support evidence-based policy, institutional strengthening, and responsible AI adoption across the region. My work continues to be guided by the same principles that inspired my career from the beginning: a commitment to rigorous economic analysis, the transformative potential of data, and the belief that better information systems can support more equitable and resilient development.