Fernanda Montero comes to the MESM program as a LAFF fellow with a CONACYT scholarship from the Government of Mexico. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Tecnologico de Monterrey and a Certificate in Economics from the Instituto Nacional Autonomo de Mexico. Before coming to Bren, she served as an advisor for United Nations Development Programme’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative in Mexico. In her role, she drafted and implemented financing solutions for biodiversity in collaboration with the government, civil society organizations, and the private sector in Mexico. She facilitated efforts for operationalizing the National Climate Change Fund; promoted enabling environments for impact investing in sustainable ventures; and worked to mainstreaming biodiversity in national policies through the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to that role, she worked as CONANP’s (Mexico's National Protected Areas Commission) Advisor on Strategic Financing, where she participated in the development of CONANP’s Finance Action Plan 2015-2018, conducted financial gap analysis for Protected Areas and oversaw the international cooperation project portfolio. Previously, as Deputy Director in the International Affairs Unit in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit in Mexico she supported the negotiations between the Ministry and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and oversaw the national GEF project portfolio.

Thematically, Fernanda brings real-world conservation financing expertise to the LAFF network, and while in her tenure as a LAFF fellow at Bren and beyond, is excited to seek ways to advance environmental solutions through impact investing and eco-entrepreneurship.