Laura Chinchilla Keynote Speaker

Laura Chinchilla served as President of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. Prior to her presidency, she held positions as Minister of Public Security (1996-1998), Congresswoman (2002-2006), Minister of Justice, and Vice President of the Republic (2006-2010).

Among the most significant policies promoted during her administration were those aimed at achieving real gender equality and equity. Under her leadership, Costa Rica reached educational parity across all levels, established a national program for early childhood care and shared household responsibilities, reduced femicide rates by 50%, and developed gender equity certification policies for companies.

In recognition of her environmental work, she received two major international awards for ocean protection and advancing the blue agenda: the “Excellence in National Ocean Stewardship Award” from the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards and the “Shark Guardian of the Year” award from The Shark Project.

She holds honorary doctorates from the United Nations University for Peace, Georgetown University, and Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.

Currently, she serves as Vice President of the World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, Co-Chair of the Inter-American Dialogue and the Concordia Summit, and is involved in various organizations including the International Olympic Committee and International IDEA.

She has served as a consultant in Latin America and Africa for several international organizations, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), focusing on institutional reform, rule of law, and security.

She led the first Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the United States during the November 2016 elections, as well as an OAS Electoral Observation Mission for the 2015 elections in Mexico.

She is a guest professor at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico, the University of São Paulo (Brazil), and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In recent years, she has worked as an advisor to international organizations on topics including women’s leadership, human rights, rule of law, democracy, and sustainable development.