CEO
Laura Reyna is a problem solver with a strong passion to serve as a bridge between technology and public policy. She is the founder and CEO of Puentech, TechPolicy Laboratory for LatinAmerica. PUENTECH Lab is a women led organization that works on shaping the future of tech policy in Latin America.
As a former public servant, I know there is no such thing as a minor task when serving others, whether you are Prime Minister or working in a start-up. My experiences made me aware of an absence in Latam of leaders who understand the concepts that will transform society. Policymakers, instead of embracing technological change, fear its impact. What they ignore is that, in technology, policies that start from fear and not evidence, tend to fail. I have actively promoted the use of technology as a public servant, academic and now as a consultant for the private sector. After ten years serving as an advisor for Mexico’s Senate, Interior Ministry, the Mexican Embassy in the USA, and local governments, I now work on shaping future policies as the founder of the Tech Policy Latam Lab: a female-led organization that researches, offers advice to start-ups on their public affairs challenges and solves public problems through technology. Through these experiences I observed first-hand the need for change. Specially, as a public policy Master's Lecturer at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Administration I mentored current and future public administrators around the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
During my career I've been awarded a series of scholarships to pursue my studies. As a bachelor in Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) I was granted a double excellence full scholarship to course my two bachelors: on International Studies B.A. and Political Science and Public Administration (B.A.). My thesis on "Potentialities of Digital Participation in Mexico" was awarded and sent to library. And my academic achievements, were recognized with the State's Youth Award 2008.My master's degree at Tec de Monterrey on Public Policy and my PHD on Public Administration at National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) were funded by CONACYT. Tec de Monterrey decided to publish my master thesis "Global Civil Society in the Information Era" as a book. And last August, I graduated with honors from INAP with my thesis on: "Towards a National Policy of Public Registration and Digital Identity in Mexico". It is important to mention, that the protocol of investigation for my PHD, was developed during my time at ILG. An experience that broadened my vision around the challenges on leadership and innovation in the region. This year, I was recognized as a Chevener Scholar 2020-2021 and awarded a full scholarship to study Technology Policy in Judge Business School at Cambridge University. Joining Cambridge, has granted me the opportunity to work and collaborate with Policy Leader Fellows to develop research for the design and evolution of Mexico’s tech policies. The program’s focus on business- government interactions will provide the context and abilities to formulate, present and deliver policies that reshape technology use and which account for the typical rejections from reticent politicians.
Laura Reyna is a problem solver with a strong passion to serve as a bridge between technology and public policy. She is the founder and CEO of Puentech, TechPolicy Laboratory for LatinAmerica. PUENTECH Lab is a women led organization that works on shaping the future of tech policy in Latin America.
Volunteer as a World Economic Forum Global ShaperLecturerPolitical analyst on TV and newspapersHiking
After ten years of experience in the public service as an advisor for Mexico’s: Senate, Ministry of Interior, Embassy in USA and local governments (Tamaulipas and Nuevo León), I define myself as a public problem solver with a strong passion to serve. For example, when I was 25 years old, I was appointed Technical Secretary of the Minister of Interior in Mexico. I proved to be a responsible, hardworking and dedicated professional who was always seeking out innovative solutions for public problems. One of my favorite responsibilities, during those five years serving Mexico at a national level, was to develop public innovation policies on diverse governance subjects. For example, I played a key role in the design and implementation process to modernize Public Civil Registries in Mexico. My technical and interpersonal skills where essential to bring in several governmental entities into a strategic plan to digitalize and make readily available on the web, birth certificates across all of Mexico. That technologically and politically complex project enabled millions of disadvantaged Mexicans to get their official documents for the first time and for a low cost. Nothing that you start in life must come from your fears, if not your desires. I learned this when I worked as a Senior Manager of Government and Institutional Relations for Mexico and Colombia for Grin Scooters and Senior Advisor for Jetty, Mexican start-ups companies in the mobility sector (public transport, electric scooters, bikes and payments). Mobility is one of the main challenges in Latam cities; millions of people use low quality, contaminating transport systems to get to their jobs and homes. Both, Grin & Jetty, are companies focused on reducing pollution by improving transport in the main cities in Latin America with the introduction of the Internet of Things to mobility. New technologies pose practical policy challenges to policymakers, even though tech proposes solutions for major problems. Working with this startups illuminated how disengagement between technology and policy can lead to over-regulation, corruption and the destruction of businesses driving innovation. I decided to attend this challenge by promoting evidence-based policy arguments to detractors of disruptive mobility, adjusting the companies regulatory and communications strategy and potentializing the institutional relations of the company. That’s how I achieved, in less than six months, starting operations in Medellin and Guadalajara for Grin and San Pedro Garza Garcia for Jetty.
I have always strived to be part of institutions, organizations and communities that bring together people around the causes I believe in: professionalization of public service, gender equality and technology. On the past 4 years, I 've worked as a lecturer for INAP master's program at the Mexican Senate where my students where national senators and staffers; as a professor at UNAM and ANAHUAC. I am interested on fellowships for developing research, negotiation and relationship-building skills that allow me to advocate policy change on an international level.
Secretaría de Gobernación
Mexico National Ministry
PUENTECH
TechPolicy Laboratory for Latinamerica
Grow: Grin Scooters
Micromobility Mexican Startup
Senado de la República
Mexico
World Economic Forum
Improving the state of the world
