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Marcela Escobari

From Alfawiki
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Marcela Escobari, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 11 August 2025
Marcela X. Escobari
Born (1973-11-16) November 16, 1973 (age 52)
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Occupation(s)Diplomat, government official
Years active1996–present
Known forAssistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at USAID; immigration advisor at the National Security Council; Executive Director of Harvard University's Center for International Development

Marcela X. Escobari (born November 16, 1973) is a Bolivian-American diplomat and government official who presently serves as an immigration advisor within the National Security Council. From January 2022 until April 2024, she held the position of Assistant Administrator for the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Prior to that role, she was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she directed the Workforce of the Future initiative.

Escobari’s initial tenure as USAID Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean spanned from May 2016 to January 2017, following her nomination by President Barack Obama and subsequent Senate approval. She also served as Executive Director of Harvard University’s Center for International Development and led the Americas practice at OTF Group (formerly Monitor Group). Earlier in her career, she worked as a financial analyst at J.P. Morgan Chase & Company.

In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced plans to reappoint Escobari to USAID. After a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in July 2021, she received Senate confirmation in December 2021.

Early life and education

Escobari was born in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where she attended Santa Cruz Cooperative School (SCCS) for high school. She relocated to the United States in 1992 to pursue higher education and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Swarthmore College in 1996. She later obtained a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2001; her thesis titled "Assessing Network Applications for Economic Development" earned the best Policy Analysis Exercise distinction.

Career

Following her undergraduate degree, Escobari spent two years working as a financial analyst specializing in mergers and acquisitions at J.P. Morgan’s New York office. She was also a visiting scholar at London Business School, where she developed strategic case studies on Brazilian firms such as Natura. After completing her graduate studies at Harvard, she joined OTF Group—a spin-off from Monitor Group—advising governments on enhancing export competitiveness and designing private sector strategies aimed at poverty reduction.

From 2007 through 2016, Escobari served as Executive Director of Harvard’s Center for International Development (CID), during which time she expanded the center’s scope threefold with initiatives across 17 countries focusing on barriers to economic growth. Under her stewardship, CID produced the Atlas for Economic Complexity, an influential data visualization tool that maps global trade patterns and identifies growth prospects.

In 2016, Escobari broke ground as the first female Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at USAID. In this capacity, she bolstered U.S. support for Colombia’s peace agreement, coordinated post-hurricane recovery efforts in Haiti, and advanced policy responses to Venezuela’s ongoing crisis. Following increased Congressional funding directed toward Central America, she established a task force dedicated to optimizing fund allocation to address poverty and migration challenges.

Between 2011 and 2016, she was a board member of Root Capital, a nonprofit organization providing financing for rural development worldwide.

In 2017, Escobari joined Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth as a Senior Advisor with a focus on data philanthropy and research initiatives.

Since joining the Brookings Institution in 2018, she has spearheaded the Workforce of the Future initiative, which leverages data analytics and network methodologies to inform city-level economic development and labor market mobility strategies. Her research concentrates on economic disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and promotes private sector engagement in fostering sustainable employment quality. Her analyses have been featured by prominent media outlets including The New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Washington Post, and Forbes Advisor.

During President Joseph Biden’s 2020 campaign, Escobari co-led the Development, Global Health, and Refugee policy working group.

After completing two years at USAID, she transitioned to a role advising on immigration matters within the National Security Council.

Selected publications

Books and Reports

Blogs, Op-Eds, Podcasts, and Journal Articles

Published Congressional Testimony

Online Data Visualization Tools

Awards and recognitions

Related profiles

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