Santiago Creuheras

Santiago Creuheras is a distinguished expert and scholar in public policy and sustainable development whose career has advanced democratic governance through institution-building, citizen participation, and strategic policymaking. With a strong academic foundation and extensive experience in both national and international contexts, he has supported democratic transitions by advising governments on reforms that strengthen transparency, accountability, and inclusive decision-making.

Santiago’s research revisits Mexico’s democratization process, first examined 25 years ago in The Mexican Transition Toward Democratization in the Twentieth Century. His current work evaluates the state of democracy and sustainable development in the region a quarter century later. By examining the endurance and evolution of democratic institutions in Mexico, he seeks to assess the broader challenges facing Latin American democracies today, including political backsliding, polarization, institutional fragility, economic inequality, and the erosion of civil liberties.

Before joining the Ash Center, he was a John F. Kennedy Fellow, an Edward Mason Fellow, and a Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He previously served as Mexico’s Deputy Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Energy and as a senior advisor to the Mexican Congress. He has also held positions at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Energy Agency, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Office of Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Mexico’s Ministry of Finance, and the Office of the President of Mexico, among others.

Globally, Santiago was elected Chair of the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) with the unanimous endorsement of all member countries, and he co-led the G20 Energy Efficiency and Energy Transitions Finance Working Group for several years—advancing energy transition finance, sustainable development, and the democratization of the energy sector.

At Harvard University, he is a member of the teaching team for the courses Getting Things Done, Leading Economic Growth, and Implementing Public Policy, working alongside Professors Matt Andrews and Ricardo Hausmann. He serves on the Weatherhead Center for International Studies Advisory Board, is Co-President of Harvard Alumni for Climate and the Environment, and is a Director at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education Board of Directors, as well as an Elected Director and Graduate School Director of the Harvard Alumni Association. Santiago also serves as a Harvard College interviewer and as a member of the Host Family Program, which fosters informal connections between alumni, faculty, administrators, other members of the Harvard community, and first-year students.

He also serves as a Professor of Management at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and has taught undergraduate and graduate students at leading academic institutions around the world.

Santiago holds three master’s degrees from Harvard University—in Public Administration, Government, and History—as well as a master’s in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge. He has earned graduate certificates from the University of Oxford, the University of Chicago, and Universidad Iberoamericana. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of the Americas.