Alumni Profile: Ana Aguilera, MPP'13

In 2021, Ana Aguilera, MPP ’13, co-led an extraordinary migrant integration initiative: the Colombia Social and Economic Integration of Migrants Project, a World Bank effort to help the Colombian government absorb and advance the lives of millions of Venezuelan migrants.

More than 2.4 million Venezuelans registered for a system that identifies the migrants, collects their socioeconomic data and directs them to education, health and social protection programs—an effort that contributes to the growth and development of the migrants and the communities where they settle.

The Colombia Social and Economic Integration of Migrants Project is the world’s largest and longest in duration of any such effort. Aguilera, who received the 2023 Harris School of Public Policy Rising Star Award, cites the integration as perhaps her most noteworthy achievement.

And she traces her capacity to deliver that project to skills she learned at Harris.

“There was a class, ‘Leadership in Chicago,’ and I was a research assistant for it,” recalled Aguilera, a Senior Social Development Specialist with the World Bank who leads the institution’s portfolio on migration, refuge, and social inclusion in Central America, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Between scheduling speakers every week, managing those relationships and “organizing the celery and carrots,” she said, “I learned so much—listening to the speakers and mostly, how much of the decision making in politics is relationship-based.”

Those soft skills, coupled with a robust “analytical toolkit” and geospatial analytics she gleaned in other Harris classes, helped Aguilera immensely while she worked to craft the Colombian migrant integration project.

The Harris “analytical algorithm approach” and the geospatial analytics also apply to nearly every policy issue she tackles.

“I always say that I think Harris changed my life,” she said. “If I could pinpoint it, I’d say that Harris gave me a network and a brand that’s certified. It’s a very specific brand and the market values it.”

Flexibility is another part of the brand that she appreciates. Aguilera valued the exposure she had to students from Booth, the Law school, and other areas of study across campus. She also is grateful for the variety of courses available to her, including two of her favorites: the history of geography and the history of statistics.

Since leaving Harris in 2013, Aguilera has worked in international development across 20 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. She focuses her work on migration, forced displacement, local resilience, participatory development and institutional strengthening.

Before joining the World Bank, Aguilera worked at CAF—a development bank supporting Latin American and Caribbean countries to promote sustainable development and regional integration—and advised firms and local governments, including the City of Chicago and City of Gary, Indiana.

In addition to the acclaimed Colombia migrant integration project, Aguilera last year coordinated the compilation of the first interactive map of transit migration routes through all of Central America, then intersected the routes with service providers to find gaps in services for women migrants survivors of gender-based violence.

She used satellite imagery—a component of the geospatial analysis she learned at UChicago—to make the map and survey beneficiaries and service providers.

Seven-year-old neighborhood organizer

Established to recognize younger, high-achieving Harris alumni, the Rising Star Award is given to an alum within 15 years of graduation who has distinguished themselves by creating a positive impact in executing public policy.

Aguilera may have shown at an early age that she was destined for such distinction.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Aguilera started organizing kids in her neighborhood in the mid-1990s, at seven years old. She established a dues-paying club, organized sporting tournaments and elections—a few of which she won—and other activities.

“I had a role model—Irene Saez,” Aguilera said. “She was this amazing woman.”

The 1981 Miss Universe, Saez was elected mayor of the Chacao municipality in Caracas in the early 1990s, re-elected in 1995 and was so popular that a toy manufacturer made a Barbie-like doll of Saez. Aguilera owned one.

After an unsuccessful campaign for president against Hugo Chavez in 1998, Saez ended her political career in 2000 as governor of the state of Nueva Esparta.

Raised in Venezuela’s tumultuous political environment of the 1990s and inspired by the powerful beauty-queen-turned-mayor Aguilera participated in student organizations throughout high school and college, working against the oppressive Chavez regime.

After graduating from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello with a degree in economics, she became a political consultant in a firm run by two Harris alums—Richard Obuchi and Cristina Hernandez. Aguilera wanted to pursue graduate studies in public policy in the U.S and considered the Harvard Kennedy School.

Obuchi persuaded her to think about Harris because of its emphasis on analytical tools. Aguilera applied to and was accepted by both schools.

“I liked that Harris was super flexible, and that it didn’t have a mandatory requirement for macroeconomics because I did five years of macroeconomics in Venezuela,” she said. “I liked the critical thinking that Harris was providing, and I wanted to get tools.”

She landed in Hyde Park in 2011 and found it to be “the best combination in terms of being a great program in a great city and matching exactly what I needed.”

‘Constructive space’

In the dozen years since she graduated from Harris, Aguilera has become a widely recognized authority, reliable partner and someone who can deliver important research and effective policy on migration and forced displacement challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Aguilera said she would like to expand her expertise to different areas of the globe but remain grounded in the issues of migration, forced displacement and integration.

“To be honest, in this new geopolitical landscape, I want to keep pushing in this space,” she said. “I know there are issues with receiving people; that there are costs, but the benefits of integrating are so much larger.”

One of the key issues, she said, is minimizing those costs to optimize benefits.

“Countries’ populations are aging and shrinking,” Aguilera said, “and they will need migrants. I think in the next 30 years countries will be fighting for migrants. So, I would love to keep open a constructive space for the issue.”