We like to start with the basics. So, can you tell us about how you came to join the Capacity team?
I joined Capacity this September to lead our public sector innovation and transformation work. I’d known about the organisation for years and always admired how it combines creativity with real delivery. Joining felt like a natural next step: a place where ideas meet impact.
Prior to joining the team, I worked across government, higher education and the international public sector.
Most recently, I led digital strategy at The Open University, and before that, I directed transformation programmes for local authorities and governments in the UK, Chile and elsewhere. Earlier in my career, I helped to set up and co-lead Chile’s national public innovation lab, which shaped how I see change and leadership in government.
What are you most looking forward to in your role?
Seeing local ideas grow into things that change lives. I love helping public sector teams unlock their own capability and confidence. That moment when someone realises they can lead change themselves… that’s the best bit.
Okay, now for some rapid-fire questions. What three words best describe you?
Curious, driven, occasionally chaotic.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Listen until it hurts.” It’s something a mentor once told me. It means staying quiet long enough to really understand what’s going on, not just what people say first.
What inspires you?
When I see people in the public sector doing difficult work quietly and well. Innovation isn’t always about headlines; it’s often about someone making a service fairer or kinder for the people who need it most.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Flying! It would definitely help to see things from a different perspective. I could also avoid airports and still visit family and friends scattered around the world.
What’s one thing you wish you’d known when you were younger?
Well, I’m a trauma survivor. What happened to me as a teenager shaped a lot of how I see the world. For years, I thought surviving meant staying silent and keeping everything together. I wish I’d known that speaking openly, asking for help, and forgiving yourself are all signs of strength, not weakness.
Who’d play you in a biopic of your life?
I can’t really think of a specific name, but it would have to be someone with Latin American roots. Not because of the looks, but because they’d need that mix of calm on the surface and complete chaos underneath. Ideally, someone with a bit of revolutionary blood, just enough to make things interesting.
If you had a magic wand, what’s the one thing you’d fix?
I’d challenge those politicians and decision makers and their dehumanising attitudes towards anyone different. The world doesn’t need more division; it needs empathy and imagination. If we could see each other as complex human beings rather than categories, so many things would change for the better.
What’s your favourite place in the Liverpool City Region?
I am going to get cancelled with this, but I am still quite new to the region, so give me 6 months, and I might have a better response.
What’s one thing on your bucket list that you want to tick off this year?
Going back to Chile after six years away. Seeing family and friends, and taking my twin boys so they can connect with the place that might not be home on paper, but is definitely home at heart.
What’s a skill you’re working on mastering?
Patience. Especially when dealing with complexity and bureaucracy, it’s a daily practice.
What are you most excited about in life right now?
My family. Watching my wife achieve everything she sets her mind to, and seeing our twin boys grow, laugh and find their own rhythms. It’s chaos and joy rolled into one, and the best reminder of what really matters.
