Daniel Ortega Nieto is a Lead Governance Specialist and Program Manager of the World Bank’s Public Sector Innovation and GovTech Program. The Program provides direct support to operations and convenes key stakeholders to promote the use of foundational and frontier tools and technologies with the goal of transforming the way governments operate, deliver services, and interact with citizens. Before this responsibility, Daniel was based in Jakarta, where he managed Indonesia’s Public Financial Management Multi-Donor Trust Fund. The Trust Fund provides technical assistance for budgeting, treasury, tax administration, civil service, data analytics, and accountability reforms. Previously, he led the public sector management operations in Brazil. During his tenure in Brasilia, he designed and led the Pro-Gestão Program, a US$1 billion credit line to improve fiscal and public financial management across Brazilian states. Daniel led the development of DeCODE, an evidence-based system that uses machine learning to leverage data to help anticipate and solve delivery challenges, and the Governance Risk Assessment System which uses artificial intelligence for extracting 200+ firm-level and agency-level corruption risk red-flags.
He has worked across regions and Governance issues, supporting projects and analytical work in Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, and Uruguay, among others. Before joining the World Bank, he was an advisor to the Mexican Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, a consultant to the Inter-American Bank, and the United States Ministry of Labor and the Agency for International Development. He has conducted research at Harvard and Sciences-Po universities. Daniel graduated from El Colegio de México, holds a Master's degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics (Chevening fellow), and holds a PhD in Public Policy and Government from Georgetown University (Fulbright fellow).