Diego Area is a deputy director of strategic development at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin American Center. He has over twelve years of experience influencing policymaking and developing public-private partnerships to achieve a positive impact in society. At the Council, Area spearheads strategies to promote constructive US engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Area co-manages the Center’s corporate membership program, partnering with Fortune 500 companies across industries to advance hemispheric prosperity. He has led projects alongside the governments of the United States, Canada, and Spain. In addition, he coordinates efforts to engage with the US Congress, shaping policy choices and strategies to steer relations between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2018, Area has overseen the creation of the Euro-Americas forward program, the #RoadtotheSummit of the Americas partnership, the US-Chile integration program, the Venezuela Congressional Fellowship, the Venezuela Transatlantic Fellowship, the launch of the Center’s network of Venezuelan women leaders, and the formation of the Venezuela Working Group.
In 2021, Area received the George Washington University’s Guardian of Democracy award, granted to graduates who overcome major hurdles to uphold democracy in the United States and abroad. In 2020, he was selected to participate in the National Endowment for Democracy’s Penn Kemble Forum on Democracy fellowship program.
Before being forced to flee Venezuela, Area served as director of social development in the municipality of Sucre in Caracas, where he led the creation of public-private partnerships establishing a college scholarship program for young students with limited resources, which awarded more than 1,200 scholarships and promoted an alternative dispute resolution program for violence prevention in high-crime areas. Area also supported a vast network of nongovernmental organizations to create community-managed daily care homes for over 2,500 children in the lower-income areas of Sucre. He previously served as campaign manager in the 2015 parliamentary elections in the State of Miranda in Venezuela.
Area has a master’s degree in political management from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.