Johns Hopkins UniversityEst. 1876

America’s First Research University
Francisca Rojas headshot - Our Team
Francisca Rojas
Executive Director

Bloomberg Center for
Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins

Biography

Dr. Francisca Rojas is the Executive Director at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, the world’s leading organization advancing public innovation in cities globally. With more than 20 years of experience in urban planning, finance, and analytics, Dr. Rojas leads a team of global public innovation experts and researchers, connecting city halls with cutting-edge solutions and delivering capacity building programs for practitioners in more than 200 cities around the world.

Since joining the Center in 2021 as the inaugural Academic Director, Dr. Rojas has built and led a multidisciplinary team to develop BCPI’s applied research portfolio and design and launch both the Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellowship and the Summer Scholars program, inspiring the next generation of public innovators. A respected thought leader in the global public innovation space, Dr. Rojas has built strong relationships and research collaborations across the university.

Prior to joining BCPI, Dr. Rojas spent several years in increasingly senior positions at the Inter-American Development Bank, concentrating on housing and urban development and facilitating more than $1 billion in major loan programs supporting urban investment across Latin America. Earlier in her career, she was a Project Planner for the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative in Washington, D.C., collaborating on award-winning redevelopment plans that have generated over $3 billion in public and private investment.

Her career also includes serving as an advisor to Chile’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Research Director for the Harvard University Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Transparency Policy Project, and Program Manager for the American Institute of Architects.

Dr. Rojas holds a Ph.D in urban and regional planning and a Master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Science in social science from the University of Michigan. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“Cities and their residents thrive when research, creativity, and public leadership come together to drive innovation,” said Dr. Rojas. “When we equip city leaders with evidence-based insights, tools, and partnerships, we help them advance public innovation to turn today’s challenges into lasting solutions.”

Connect with Dr. Francisca Rojas on LinkedIn.

To learn more about the Center’s work, follow @publicinno.