Assumed leadership of a $51M USAID Economic Competitiveness Program at a critical inflection point, with a mandate to strengthen SME competitiveness, attract foreign direct investment and pioneer a circular labor mobility initiative connecting Salvadoran workers to the U.S. temporary work visa program. Navigated a complex organizational transition to restore operational momentum under close USAID oversight, ultimately driving exceptional results across 26 quantitative performance indicators and securing the program's long-term impact.

Reconfigured the program into a Private Sector Engagement (PSE) engine focused on MSME capacity building and transformation. Developed strategic support programs and partnered with Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) to strengthen local ecosystems. Designed and applied a proprietary value chain development methodology to map node-by-node firm-level constraints, structure cluster-based interventions, and align BDSP support with measurable competitiveness gains across priority sectors. Supported the establishment of El Salvador's new national investment promotion agency, providing institutional design guidance and co-developing its FDI attraction strategy and operational framework. Scaled the H-2 Visa Labor Mobility Program to 15,000+ annual placements and launched 'Transformando Vidas' to channel worker savings into entrepreneurship. Successfully restructured operations and restored USAID confidence.

As Chief of Party, responsible for strategy, operations, and results transformed the program into one of USAID's most successful in El Salvador. Demonstrated that managed circular migration can simultaneously serve as migration policy and economic development strategy. Exceeded 26 quantitative indicators across four pillars: Economic Impact ($414M sales, 46,552 jobs), MSME Capacity Building (18,900 firms assisted), Market Access (export readiness), and Business Environment (regulatory reform). This strategy revitalized the economy through private sector engagement and innovation, addressing the root causes of migration through sustainable competitiveness.

Lead CONAPRI during one of the most demanding contexts a national investment promotion agency can face: an environment of acute political and economic volatility in which capital flows had contracted sharply, the agency's operating budget was under sustained pressure, and its standing as a technical counterpart before the international investor community and domestic policymakers had been progressively eroded. The challenge was threefold: to preserve institutional continuity and global presence under tightening resource constraints; to remain a relevant technical actor in the formulation of investment attraction policy at a moment when policy space itself was contested; and to rebuild the agency's credibility as a legitimate interlocutor with audiences that had grown skeptical of Venezuelan economic institutions.

Responded with a coordinated turnaround built on three deliberate lines of action: (i) rationalization of the operating cost base while preserving global footprint — restructuring the agency's cost structure without compromising its international representation or the continuity of its investor-facing services; (ii) deepened local support for investment attraction policy — re-anchoring CONAPRI in the technical formulation and execution of national investment promotion policy and extending advisory capacity to subnational and sectoral counterparts; and (iii) strategic repositioning of the agency as a credible interlocutor.

Delivered a coordinated turnaround whose results materialized along three measurable dimensions: (i) a leaner operating structure that preserved global footprint — the agency's cost base was rationalized while its international representation and the continuity of investor-facing services were sustained intact, demonstrating that institutional retrenchment did not require strategic withdrawal; (ii) renewed influence over investment attraction policy — CONAPRI re-emerged as a technically authoritative voice in the formulation and execution of national investment promotion policy, with measurable expansion of its advisory reach into subnational and sectoral counterparts; and (iii) restored credibility as a legitimate interlocutor — the agency recovered standing with the international investor community and with national policymakers as the recognized technical counterpart on investment climate, sector targeting, and aftercare matters, reversing the perception erosion that had defined the prior period.