About Us > Meet Our Team
We founded the firm with the goal of effecting social change and positively transforming policy-making through our services.
Our team is composed of highly resourceful and committed individuals who believe in our mission to reshape policies and boost government results. We share a passion to innovate and keep current on the latest developments in the field to consistently deliver outstanding results. We have a solid public policy background acquired both in academic institutions and professional practice.
In addition to the profiles of the senior members shown below, our team is composed of a group of associate consultants with a vast experience working on public policy projects that contain both technology and data analytics components.
Hector Cárdenas
President and CEO
Hector Cardenas holds Ph.D. and M.P.P. degrees from the Goldman School of Public Policy as well as an M.P.A. degree from France's École Nationale d'Administration, and a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de México.
He specializes in regulatory policy, service delivery, information technology strategy, operations management and Big Data analytics. He is the President and CEO of The Ergo Group, a public policy and information technology strategy consulting firm. Over the past 20 years he has led the firm's consulting projects for government agencies in the U.S., México, Canada and Singapore, as well as for the World Bank Group, the Interamerican Development Bank, USAID, UNDP, and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. These projects have been focused on regulatory reform, criminal justice reform, consular operations, strategic planning and process improvement. His passion is helping governments to best use data-driven decision-making, statistical and operations research techniques, and information technology to improve operations and outcomes of public policies and government programs.
Publications
Los Sistemas computarizados en la aplicación de la Ley Ambiental 1998
José Ángel Canela-Cacho, Ph.D
Trained as a policy analyst and as a statistician, José Ángel has broad ranging professional and academic experience as a consultant, public manager, professor and researcher in the policy field. He holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS in statistics and was trained as a lawyer in Mexico. He has government experience as the legal counsel to Mexico's NAFTA office in Washington D.C. during the trade agreement's negotiation phase. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals both in the US and in Mexico on policy topics. José specializes in the use of policy analytic methods, including legal and statistical analysis to solve public policy problems.
Publications
Los Sistemas computarizados en la aplicación de la Ley Ambiental 1998
Alvaro Villagra Román
Head of Technology
With over 20 years of experience as a consultant and software architect, Alvaro leads The Ergo Group’s technology development. Alvaro has broad ranging experience in both public and private sector technology projects, having worked on projects for PEMEX, CFE, Infonavit, and Profecco as well as leading private companies in México, he specializes in business process modeling and object oriented information technologies to improve organizational services. Alvaro is the architect and senior developer of MētisBPM™ (core Metis Object Model Foundation MOMF and related core products) and developed the technology design and implementation of MētisBPM™ solutions undertaken by Ergo. He led technology projects in Chile, México, the U.S. and Canada, including the development of the Metis BPM Engine (Workflow Engine and Rule Engine), Metis Specialized Modules, and the Metis Interconnection Modules. Alvaro is a graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Superior Polytechnic Institute “José Antonio Echeverría”, in La Habana, Cuba.
Édgar Moreno
Principal Consultant
Édgar has over 15 years of experience in strategic communications, political analysis, and policy coordination. His diverse background includes crafting policies for federal ministries, lobbying for legislative reforms, and building alliances with stakeholders such as the private sector, nonprofits, and unions. Moreno's work has consistently involved collaborating with key decision-makers to analyze problems and find solutions, using both technical expertise and political acumen to ensure successful policy implementation. His roles have spanned government and private sectors, proving a commitment to making impactful changes.
In communications, Moreno has excelled in designing messages, managing media relations, producing multimedia content, and handling crises. His policy work includes crafting and evaluating policies, building support, and overcoming opposition in Mexico and internationally in Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, and Peru. He has held notable public service positions, such as Chief of Staff to high-ranking officials and Deputy Director General at the National Security Council. In the private sector, he has been a communications consultant for major energy and mining companies, and a consultant to various organizations within the United Nations System and other international entities. Moreno holds a degree in Political Science from ITAM and a master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University.
Jorge Reyes
Results-oriented public policy expert
Jorge has extensive experience in the operation of various government programs, as well as in the evaluation of administrative processes. Throughout his career, Jorge has worked in the public and private sectors both in Mexico and abroad, contributing to the design and implementation of various projects ranging from reputation campaigns and image enhancement (North American Free Trade Agreement) to marketing and brand development (promotion of the "Mexico" brand in foreign markets), as well as implementation of best practices in the public sector. While living in Kenya, as part of his volunteer work, he founded "Young Fathers", a community organization (CBO) whose purpose is to empower young parents living in Mathare, one of the largest urban slums in East Africa. He currently resides in Mexico and works as an independent consultant participating in various projects for the design and evaluation of public policy social programs, including matters related to economic development, regulation, anticorruption and transparency, and social policy.
Ricardo Santamaría
Ricardo Santamaría has worked for over 20 years in designing organizations to achieve operational efficiency, using methodologies such as institutional design, enterprise architecture, and cultural transformation. He has accumulated extensive sectoral experience aimed at transforming public administration organizations by participating in projects in countries like Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Panama, and Spain, integrating international best practices into Latin American realities.
He has participated in strategic initiatives for implementing changes in public administration, with a global and comprehensive scope, defining regulatory frameworks, developing strategies, and designing improvements for public management models in sectors such as energy, environment and climate change, public finance, justice, security, health, and agriculture. He has extensive knowledge of the federal and state public sectors in Mexico. He has been a project consultant for UNDP and the World Bank, and was responsible for the publication of the GEF book. He holds a degree in Sciences and Electronic Civil Engineering with a focus on Systems and Control from the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, and is a candidate for a Master's degree in Philosophy of Science and Contemporary Thought from the Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile. Additionally, he is a certified executive and organizational coach, a professor in various coaching diploma programs at TEC de Monterrey, and is responsible for the supervision programs at International Coaching Technologies, ICT.
Leonardo Álvarez
Head of Consulting
Leonardo Álvarez Córdova has over 20 years of experience as an academic, public official, and consultant in public policy matters. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration from El Colegio de México. He holds a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public and International Affairs from Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh, respectively.
He is an expert in public policy design, organizational design, process redesign, regulatory improvement, development planning, digital economy, and industrial innovation. He has a proven track record in implementing process reengineering and organizational design initiatives within federal institutions such as the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the IMSS, as well as at the state and local levels. He possesses extensive experience in regulation and regulatory improvement, having worked as a telecommunications regulator and led regulatory improvement projects across various federal and local settings in Mexico. His experience as the General Director of Innovation, Services, and Internal Trade at Mexico’s Ministry of Economy has made him an expert in digital ecosystems and industrial innovation.
