Gustavo Merino has been serving as Director of Social Polices at UNESCO since January 2024. He has held senior positions in the Government of Mexico including Deputy Minister of Social and Human Development, Deputy Minister for Prospective, Planning and Evaluation at the Ministry of Social Development. He was also General Director of Mexico’s national development bank for agriculture and rural areas, Financiera Rural. At the FAO he was Director of the Investment Centre Division. He has also been Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Government for Mexico City Region of Tecnológico de Monterrey where he also led the Research Centre on Public Policy and Health at the School of Government and the Public Policy Unit of the Institute for Obesity Research. He was also Professor of Economics and Director for at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM) in Mexico City and Director oits Centre for Public Policy Research. He has a master’s and PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from ITAM.