Our Team

Richard Kiy

La Jolla, California, USA

Biography

Richard Kiy was appointed as President & CEO of the Institute of the Americas on August 3, 2020. Kiy was formerly General Partner with Alumbra Advisors, a consulting firm with clients in the U.S, Mexico and Central America. Prior to that, Kiy served for nearly 14 years as President & CEO of the International Community Foundation (ICF) where he expanded the foundation’s grantmaking throughout Mexico and 11 other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. While at ICF, Kiy served as Chairman and a founding board member of the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership.

Previous to his work at ICF, Kiy spent two years with PriceSmart, Inc. as Senior Vice President, Business Development expanding its business reach into 6 countries of Central America and the Caribbean. Earlier on, he was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Technical Director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) in Washington, D.C. as well as the Acting Environmental Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Kiy’s other private sector experience includes having served as Vice President for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)’s Mexican subsidiary, expanding the company’s environmental technology solutions and services business in Mexico following NAFTA’s passage. Later, he helped SAIC secure a multi-year $1.2 billion contract leading to a joint venture company with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) where he was Director of Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) Information Systems.

Kiy is a graduate of Stanford (A.B. Economics, 1984) and Harvard’s JFK School of Government (MPA, 1986). Kiy is co-author of the book Environmental Management along North America’s Borders. He serves on the Binational Advisory Board of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Sherry White

 La Jolla, California, USA

Ms. White has been an integral member of the staff of the Institute of the Americas having served in a number of capacities; STEAM Director, Community Program Director, Board Secretary, Director Special Projects and Development, Innovation Program Director (Biotech, Health and Science), Senior Advisor, Strategic Initiatives, Vice President, Public Programs & Institutional Advancement and now Senior Advisor. In her time with the Institute, she has organized and implemented a plethora of events and programs including small, private gatherings and board meetings throughout the hemisphere, seminars, workshops, and large-scale events such as fundraising events, Institute anniversary events, and black-tie award galas for current and former Latin American heads of state.

Jeremy Martin

 La Jolla, California, USA

Jeremy M. Martin is Vice President, Energy & Sustainability at the Institute of the Americas, an inter-American public policy think-tank located at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). The Institute of the Americas Energy & Sustainability Program works to foster a deeper understanding of the most critical energy issues facing the Western Hemisphere. Jeremy spends his time delving into the geopolitics of energy and closely following energy industry trends and policy issues across the Americas, and is a frequent commentator and writer on Latin American and energy issues.

Jeremy has testified before the US Congress on energy issues in Latin America, teaches a graduate course in Latin American Energy Policy at UCSD and the University of San Diego (USD) and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue’s Energy Advisor newsletter. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Diplomacy Council and is a member of the host committee for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation San Diego Chapter annual Bet on Cures event. Thanks to his upbringing, he is a diehard Red Sox fan, Civil War buff, and news junkie. Jeremy graduated with honors in History from The Citadel in Charleston, SC and a Masters in International Affairs/International Development from the American University in Washington, DC. He has yet to achieve his lifelong dream of being a Stand-Up Comic.

Tania Miranda

 La Jolla, California, USA

Tania Miranda is the Director of the Institute of the Americas’ Environment & Climate Change Program. This initiative strives to catalyze climate leadership amongst the private sector and sub-national governments in Latin America, to promote sustainable growth, tackle climate change and minimize environmental impacts in the region.

She has over 6 years of experience with multiple Mexican government agencies at the federal level, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ProMexico, and the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. Prior to the Institute, Tania worked as an Investment and Economic Analyst at the Consulate of Mexico in New York,  focusing on the promotion of the U.S. – Mexico – Canada Trade Agreement as well as energy, infrastructure, and tourism-related projects. She also has experience working as an energy liaison for the Kuwaiti government in Mexico.

Tania studied a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a Minor in International Relations at the University of Southern California, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, and a  Master’s of Science in Energy Policy & Climate from the Johns Hopkins University. She has published an array of research and opinion pieces on the energy sector in Mexico, and co-authored a published book titled We Are North America. She was born and raised in Mexico City, loves to scuba-dive, and is a Dallas Cowboys fan.

Francesca Carrillo Diaz

 La Jolla, California, USA

Francesca Carrillo-Díaz is the Director of Facilities Management and Communications Associate at the Institute of the Americas. Through virtual, hybrid, and in-person events, IOA’s Public Programming aims to increase our visibility, engagement, and reach in various communities including UC San Diego, the greater binational region of San Diego/Baja California, Southern California, and Latin America.

In 2019, Francesca joined the Institute of the Americas (IOA) as a STEAM Program Associate. She helped organize various in-person and virtual events for local and international Latin American students such as the annual residential summer Science Camp and nonresidential day camps called STEAM Labs. She has also worked with the STEAM Team to coordinate professional development workshops for Latin American STEAM teachers at the IOA headquarters in La Jolla, California, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and through virtual platforms.

Francesca graduated from the University of San Diego in 2017 with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Spanish with a minor in Latin American studies.

Christian Chavez

  La Jolla, California, USA

Christian Chavez is Systems Administrator at the Institute of the Americas. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego. His passion for computers from a very young age drew him to work in the field since 2003. His experience ranges from computer sales and repair, to network and telecomm cabling installation, to systems and network administration and security. After trying out a partnership for a couple of years, he decided to start his own company in 2011 providing a wide range of IT services to businesses throughout San Diego.

Catalina López-Sagástegui

 La Jolla, California, USA

Catalina López-Sagástegui is a Marine Biologist from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (2001) in La Paz, Mexico, and obtained a Masters degree on marine biodiversity and conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (2006). Although her initial interests focused on marine mammal ecology, her focused shifted to understanding how coastal communities adapt to changes in their socio-economic realities when public policies aimed at protecting and managing species are implemented.

From 2006-2010 she worked at NOS Noroeste Sustentable A.C., where she coordinated an effort to create a common vision for the Upper Gulf of California with scientists, conservationists, and the fishing sector. Catalina joined UCMEXUS at the University of California Riverside in 2010 as a scholar in residence where she began to develop multidisciplinary research programs that incorporate resource users’ participation in collaboration with the Gulf of California Marine Program (GCMP). Together with the Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación A.C., she developed a fisheries monitoring program that has generated data for the last 11 years, contributing to fisheries management on both, local and regional scales throughout the Gulf of California and Mexican Pacific.

Catalina’s experience with conflict resolution helps her create opportunities for multistakeholder collaborations and has reinforced the importance of access to information to build trust and empower communities.  In 2014, Catalina helped launch dataMares, GCMP’s initiative to promote transparency in scientific research and provide a space where access to scientific data is possible.

In 2017, Catalina became the GCMP’s director and, while she continues to do research related to small-scale fisheries in Mexico, she dedicates a significant portion of her time to promote binational research collaborations.

Rita Oliveira

 La Jolla, California, USA

Rita Oliveira is a Program Associate for the Energy and Sustainability Program. She is also the Office and HR Manager as well as Assistant to the President. Rita holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics from Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Portugal and MBA from National University, in San Diego. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked as a collector at Chase Home Finance in San Diego and as an Assistant Manager for F. Abecassis in Portugal.

Diana Rodríguez

Diana Rodríguez has been Energy & Sustainability Program Associate for over ten years. Diana will also be managing Communications and Marketing strategies for the Institute.  Prior to joining the Institute, Diana worked assisting the DCM at the Embassy of Colombia in Washington, D.C., for seven years. She holds a BA on International Trade from Los Libertadores University in Colombia.

Shane Christensen

Shane is the first U.S. diplomatic fellow at the Institute of the Americas.  He comes to the Institute from Porto Alegre, Brazil where he was the U.S. Consul General responsible for diplomatic relations with southern Brazil from 2020-23.  Prior to that, Shane served as chief of staff to the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Affairs bureau and also as senior watch officer in the Operations Center, which is the Department’s crisis management center.  Outside of the United States, Shane has served at the U.S. embassies in Mexico City, Havana and Kabul, the U.S. missions to the United Nations in New York and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, and the U.S. Consulate General in Dubai.  Shane is a trained executive coach, led the Department’s negotiations training program at the Foreign Service Institute, and facilitated leadership courses and workshops. 

A California native, Shane earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge University, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and an MPA from the Kennedy School, where he was a Harvard Presidential Scholar.  Shane speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and French.  Prior to joining the State Department, he worked as a freelance travel writer and is the author of past Frommer’s guides to the Grand Canyon, Dubai, and Argentina and co-author of other travel books, including on Mexico.  Shane is married to Romy Christensen and has two wonderfully mischievous children, Jake and Matilda.  They are thrilled to join the Institute and San Diego community this year.