Catalina is a gender, migration and education specialist, with over 15 years of experience in international development. She is a consultant at the World Bank working on knowledge sharing.  She has worked in project management for government agencies, academia, not-for-profits, and multilateral development banks. Catalina brings extensive experience in social development and education reform, as well as in developing strategic partnerships. She is author and editor of publications on education reform, immigration, and gender.

Before coming to the World Bank, Catalina worked in resource mobilization at the Inter-American Development Bank, and prior to that was a professor on International and Transcultural studies at Columbia University. She has also worked with her home country, Costa Rica, in the Ministry of Public Education and at the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations.

Catalina holds a PhD in Sociology of Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where attended as Fulbright Student; she a MA in International Education from Framingham State University and a BA in Psychology from Universidad de Monterrey in Costa Rica. Furthermore, she has taken classes on Economics and International Relations at Princeton University.