Juan Villalobos is a Colombian graduate of the Master in Public Policy program. He is passionate about working with public and private actors to reduce poverty, make agriculture more sustainable, and conserve biodiversity.

Before coming to Yale, Juan worked at Instiglio, a global leader in results-based financing. He consulted over 15 organizations (e.g., USAID, DFID, World Bank, IDB, Botnar Foundation, Village Enterprise, National Planning Department of Colombia, etc) to improve the impact of their social interventions in more than 10 developing countries (e.g., South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan, and India). He led the technical design for three impact bonds, guided the creation of four data systems to manage performance during implementation (a.k.a. adaptive management systems), supported the strategy-design process for several clients, and advanced various internal initiatives to support the expansion of Instiglio across continents.

At Yale, Juan is using the MPP to explore strategies to engage with public and private actors in sustainable development initiatives. As part of his MPP, he worked as a summer intern at Conservation International contributing to projects in Colombia and Ecuador. The projects aim to create a business case and pathway to engage public and private actors to improve the well-being of small farmers, scale nature-based solutions, and reduce deforestation.

Juan graduated from Universidad de los Andes with a BA in Economics, a BA in Government and Public Affairs, and a minor in state and public law.