Speaker Bio
Silvia Constain is Senior Vice President for Government Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean at Visa. Silvia has had a career in the private sector and public service. Silvia has over 25 years of international experience in international negotiations, strategy, government relations and public policy.
Before joining Visa, Silvia served as Minister of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) of Colombia, where she led the modernization of the Colombian telecom law, led digital transformation within government and spearheaded high-impact connectivity projects, including the first spectrum auction since 2013 and the expansion of 4G networks to remote rural areas. In her career path, Silvia has been the Head of Public Policies for the Southern Cone in Facebook and Manager of Government Relations for Spanish – Speaking South America in Apple.
When she joined the ICT sector, Silvia brought with her in-depth knowledge of policy-making processes at a country, regional and multilateral level. As Deputy Chief of Mission and head of Congressional Affairs at the Colombian Embassy in Washington, she advocated for the country’s priorities before the Administration, Congress and other stakeholders. In the Trade Ministry in Bogota and the Colombian Mission to the WTO in Geneva, she steered inter-agency and stakeholder consultations that resulted in negotiating positions, which she then defended in international negotiations on trade, investment and intellectual property. As a consultant, Silvia worked on projects with the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (World Bank), the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development, USAID, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and others, as well as with several private companies.
Silvia has worked in Bogota, Geneva, Washington and Buenos Aires, and lived in Boston as an international Affairs Fellow at Harvard University for one year. During her career she has built a strong results-driven track record in networks, negotiations, management, strategy design and execution, risk management and economic development in diverse sectors, including ICT. Silvia is an Economist from the University of Los Andes, where she also earned her MBA, and holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).