Mario Marcel

Mario Marcel, a Chilean and Spanish national, is the Senior Director of the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice. In his current role, he oversees all of the World Bank’s work on financial management, procurement, open government, social accountability, judicial systems and inclusive institutions, among other topics.

Prior to this, he served as the Deputy Director for Public Governance and Territorial Development at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He also previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank where he was Executive Director for Chile and Ecuador and Manager of the Institutional Capacity and Finance Sector.

He began his career in academia, where he held several teaching and research positions across universities in Chile and the United Kingdom. For 12 years he worked for the Government of Chile, holding senior positions at the Ministry of Finance including Executive Secretary for the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Modernization of Public Administration, Chair of the Internal Audit Committee, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Pension Reform, and Director General of Budget for six years. In the early 2000’s he led innovative work in the design of a structural budget fiscal rule in Chile in parallel with Sweden and Switzerland, which was later expanded to more than 30 countries.

Mario brings extensive knowledge and practice in the design and implementation of public policies, with first-hand knowledge of public institutions and decision-making processes. In Chile he led an extensive process of governance reform, including the professionalization of the public service, the creation of a senior civil service system, performance-based pay, major progress in transparency and integrity, performance budgeting, and asset and liability management.

He holds an M.Phil. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Economics and in Commercial Engineering from the Universidad de Chile. Follow him on Twitter: MarioMarcel22