Hugo Contreras is the Infrastructure Lead for Latin America and the Caribbean at Water.org. Previously, he led The Nature Conservancy´s Latin America´s Freshwater Regional Unit. Prior to this, Hugo was business development and institutional relations director for Bal-Ondeo, a joint venture of the Bal Group and Suez Environment, where he was fundamental to position the company as the leading private water operator in the Mexican market. Before joining Bal-Ondeo, he led the environment and good government practice at Thesis Consultores, providing services to local governments in Mexico and international institutions such as the World Bank and ECLAC. Hugo also served as chief of Staff for the Under Ministry for Planning and Director for Natural Resource Economics at the Ministry of Environment in Mexico, where he was responsible for designing the first auctionable subsidy system for forestry, and for developing the framework for the implementation of the Natural Disaster Relief Fund. Hugo earned his BA in economics at ITAM in Mexico, his MSc in environmental and natural resource economics from UCL in London. He also has diplomas in management and environmental economics from the IPADE, Berkeley University and the World Bank.