Secretary-General Appoints Luis F. López-Calva of Mexico Director of Regional Bureau for Latin America and Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Luis F. López‑Calva of Mexico as Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Mr. López‑Calva succeeds Jessica Faieta of Ecuador who has taken the post of Deputy Special Representative for Colombia and Deputy Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.  The Secretary‑General is grateful to Ms. Faieta for her dedication and commitment to the Organization during her term with UNDP.

Mr. López‑Calva is currently the Practice Manager of the Poverty and Equity Global Practice (Europe and Central Asia) at the World Bank.  He was the co‑director and lead author of the World Development Report 2017 on “Governance and the Law”.  He was previously Lead Economist and Regional Poverty Advisor in the Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region, and Lead Economist at the Poverty, Equity and Gender Unit in the Latin America and Caribbean PREM Directorate, also at the World Bank.  From 2007‑2010, he served as Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at UNDP in New York.  Mr. López‑Calva has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities and he is Fellow of the Human Development and Capabilities Association.  He has also been President of the Network on Inequality and Poverty in the Latin America and Caribbean Economic Association.

His research interests focus on labour markets, poverty and inequality, institutions and microeconomics of development, having presented his research at top institutions including:  Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Diego; and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Centre.  He holds a master’s degree in economics from Boston University, as well as a master’s and a doctorate in economics from Cornell University.