Professional Affiliation

Former Minister of Defense of Colombia and Former Ambassador to the United States

Expert Bio

Juan Carlos Pinzón is a Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center.

 

Juan Carlos Pinzón has held various leadership positions. Among the most notable, he served as Minister of Defense, twice as Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States, and as President of ProBogota.

 

He has served on boards of directors and advisory boards for companies and think tanks in the United States, Colombia, other Latin American countries, and Africa. He was also a visiting professor at Princeton University. He has run for President of the Republic of Colombia twice. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center; a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; Co-Vice Chair of the board of directors of the Inter-American Dialogue; and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on the Future of Geopolitics. He also advises investment funds and serves on international boards of directors.

 

As a professor at Princeton University, he taught courses on Latin American political economy, national security, geopolitics, and diplomacy. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to the United States from 2021 to 2022 and from 2015 to 2017, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. During both terms, bilateral relations reached their highest level. From 2018 to 2021, he was president of ProBogotá, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting public policies and long-term strategic projects. From 2011 to 2015, he served as Colombia’s Minister of Defense during a critical moment in the country’s history. He was the youngest Minister of Defense and the one who served the longest in this position. Under his leadership, the Armed Forces and the Police received the largest investment in personnel, technology, and equipment. At the same time, the most significant blows were dealt to organized crime in Colombia.
 

Additionally to these positions, he has also held others, such as Secretary General of the Office of the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2011, Deputy Minister of Defense from 2006 to 2009, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director on the World Bank’s Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006, Vice President of the Colombian Banking Association from 2003 to 2004, and Chief of Staff to the Ministry of Finance from 2000 to 2002, as well as corporate positions at Citigroup and private-sector companies.
 

Juan Carlos Pinzón holds a degree in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and has three master’s degrees: a Master in Economics from the same university, a Master in Public Policy from Princeton University, and a Master in National Security and Defense (Honoris Causa) from Colombia’s War College. Pinzón has also completed advanced courses in Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University; in Science and Technology Policy at Harvard University; in Smart Cities at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; in Sustainability and ESG at Pompeu Fabra University; and in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford. He has been recognized with several awards, scholarships, and honors, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Boyacá and the Medal of Merit for Public Service from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Expertise

Colombia

Latin America

Security

Foreign Affairs

Geopolitics