Council Members

Paula Benavides 

President

She has a bachelor´s degree in Commercial Engineering (o in Business Engineering)) with a specialization in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and a Master’s in Applied Economics from the same institution.  

She has built a long career focused on fiscal matters. She began her professional path at the Ministry of Finance, where she held various positions starting in 1999. She was involved in developing the methodology for the Structural Balance, co-authoring the first version of Chile’s fiscal rule in 2001. Later, she was responsible for creating the Research and Actuarial Studies Department at the Budget Office (2009–2013), served as coordinator of studies at the Ministry of Finance (2014–2015), coordinator of Social Policies at the Ministry of Finance (2015–2017) and deputy director of Streamlining and Public Function at the Budget Office (Dipres) in 2018.  

She was also a member of the Autonomous Fiscal Council (CFA) (2019 and 2023), Executive President of Espacio Público (2022–2023), and President of the Advisory Council on Health Insurance (2024–2025).  

Furthermore, she is the author of various publications and studies on fiscal policy, social policies, and pension systems. She has also taught and provided consultancy to international organizations, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), ECLA, and the World Bank, among others.  

Currently, she is a professor at the School of Government of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a member of the Pension Advisory Council.  

 

Sebastián Izquierdo Ramírez

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Chile.

He has worked for over six years in the public sector serving in various roles, including the World Bank's Innovation for Competitiveness Project in the Ministry of Economy, the Budget Office (Dipres) of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Education Quality Agency (where he was the first Executive Secretary), and the Superintendency of Education (where he served as Superintendent).

On the other hand, he has served as the Undergraduate Director at Adolfo Ibáñez University and as Executive Director of think tank Horizontal. He is the current Academic Coordinator at the Center for Public Studies and part-time professor at the Institute of Economics of the Catholic University and the President of the Chilean Society of Public Policies.

 

 

Hermann González Bravo

Bachelor degree in Economics and Master in economics with a major in Applied Macroeconomics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Until his appointment to the Council, Mr. González held the position of Macroeconomic Coordinator of Clapes UC.

Between 2004 and 2008, he worked as an economist in the Research Division of the Central Bank of Chile. Later, he was a senior economist and deputy manager of Studies at Zahler & Co. Then, between 2012 and 2013, he was macroeconomic coordinator of the Department of Studies of the Budget Directorate. Later, and until 2018, he served as Principal Economist at BBVA Research Chile. Between 2018 and 2020 he was head of advisers and macroeconomic coordinator of the Ministry of Finance. Additionally, he was a member of the Fiscal Advisory Council between 2014 and 2018, serving as vice president of the entity since 2016.

He is a professor at the Faculties of Economics and Law at the University of Chile.

 

Marcela Guzmán Salazar

Commercial Engineering and a Bachelor in Economics of the University of Chile. She is a Master’s degree candidate in Economics from the ILADES-Georgetown University and holds a postgraduate degree in Financial Administration from the University of Chile.

She was chief of the Studies Department, National Budget Office, Ministry of Finance (1995-1997); Chief of the Studies Department, Ministry of Education (1997-2000); Chief of Management Control Division, National Budget Office, Ministry of Finance (2000- 2006); and. board member of the public corporations (2006-2010 y 2016-2018).

She has worked as national consultant about public management.  In the international field she has been official on secondment at the Budget and Management Divison, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, France), and she has carried out consultancies in budget and public management with international organizations and foreign governments in different Latin American countries.

She also has been professor for public management and budget and author of various publications in the field of their specialty.

 

Joaquín Vial

Is Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of Chile and a Senior Researcher at CLAPES UC. Previously he served as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Chile between 2018 and 2022, where he was as a member of the Policy Board since February 2012. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad de Chile and got a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998, with a thesis on the World Copper market.  Previously, he held various positions in the Research Division of BBVA Group between 2004 and 2011. He also worked at Chile’s Ministry of Finance, first as Macroeconomic Policy Coordinator (1992-1994), and later as the National Budget Director (1997-2000). He performed academic activities at the universities of Columbia (2002-2003), Harvard (2000-2002), Universidad de Santiago (1986-1987) and Universidad de Chile (1978-1985), as well as in CIEPLAN (1988-1992), where he was executive director between 1994 and 1996. He has been consultant to various international organizations and private enterprises and was the Chairman of the Board of Pension Fund AFP Provida between 2009 and 2011. Currently he is member of the board of Metlife, Chile as well as member of the Board of Trustees of Universidad Diego Portales.