Gladys H. Morales is Senior Officer, Global Head of Innovation in IFAD’s Change, Delivery, and Innovation Unit (CDI), where she leads the design and implementation of innovation initiatives and partnerships aiming to support testing, learning and scaling up of innovative solutions that impact poor rural people directly. She is also currently the Regional Ambassador in Italy of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC).

Prior to joining IFAD, Morales led the digital transformation of a range of Multilateral Development Banks and United Nations agencies’ projects in Latin America, Asia, and Europe; and worked for the International Poverty Reduction Centre in China (IPRCC) where she led the design of digital platforms and established partnerships and knowledge networks for the Global Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth (GPIG) Portal. She is also familiar with the startup eco-system having been part of the management team for a digital advertising startup in Indonesia and founding her own startup in Italy.

Morales is a graduate from the Executive Programme on Digital Business Leadership at Columbia Business School, Columbia University in New York. Gladys also has a Master’s in Development Economics and International Cooperation from University of Rome, Tor Vergata, a certificate on Leadership and Innovation from MIT, and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and International Economics from Georgetown University. She also has a series of certificates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, United States, in Artificial Intelligence and Leadership and Innovation.