Fernando is the Head of the Resource Systems and Resilience program in the Center for Nature and Climate of the World Economic Forum, leading the team that advances initiatives in plastics pollution, the circular economy and societal resilience towards environmental risks. Fernando has held various roles at the Forum, more recently Head of the Materials and Infrastructure industries. Before joining the Forum in 2010, Fernando was for eight years at AkzoNobel.

Fernando is experienced in structuring and managing partnerships for technical development and has performed in areas including technology strategy and management, and corporate innovation. He received his Chemistry degree from Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Florida, and completed his post-doctoral work at Stanford University.