Ambassador Juan Manuel Santa Cruz Campaña took up his duties as Permanent Representative of Chile to the OECD on 30 April 2026.
Ambassador Juan Manuel Santa Cruz Campaña is a public policy specialist with a career that integrates government administration, political leadership, and the private sector. He holds a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Master in Economics and Public Policy from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.
Within the Government of Chile, he served as National Director of the National Training and Employment Service (SENCE) between 2018 and 2021. In this role, he led the digital modernization of the agency and the restructuring of employment and technical training programs. Previously, at the Ministry of Economy, he headed the Innovation Division, where he was responsible for managing the Innovation for Competitiveness Fund (FIC) and coordinating agencies such as the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO) and the National Agency for Investigation and Development (ANID). During this period, he acted as the technical counterpart to the OECD for innovation and R&D expenditure reports. Additionally, he served as an Independent Director of the SOFOFA Hub, providing a comprehensive perspective on public-private collaboration.
In the academic and consulting fields, he has been a research associate at Harvard and a professor at Chilean universities, in addition to advising companies on leadership, teamwork, sustainability and community relations.
Ambassador Santa Cruz Campaña is married and has four children. Additionally, in the words of the Chilean Nobel laureate, Gabriela Mistral, his avocation is mountaineering, which has taken him to climb
in various parts of the world, including Broad Peak in Pakistan – at an altitude of over 8,000 meters – without supplemental oxygen or porters.