Francisca Rojas, Academic Director for the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, leverages nearly 20 years of experience to connect cutting edge research with city hall practice and help leaders create better results for communities. Previously the Lead Housing and Urban Development Specialist in Colombia and Argentina for the Inter-American Development Bank, Francisca’s career in urban planning, finance, and analytics have supported work impacting quality of life for residents in over 100 cities in Latin America. Prior to her role at IDB, Francisca served as research director for the Harvard University Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Transparency Policy Project and a program manager for the American Institute of Architects. As a project planner for the District of Columbia Office of Planning, she collaborated on award-winning redevelopment plans for the Anacostia River Waterfront, which have generated over US$3 billion of public and private investment.

Francisca is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning and Master of City Planning, and the University of Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Science. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.