Mariana Vazquez del Mercado Castro is an international development and gender equality expert with fourteen years of experience leading international development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her areas of specialization include gender equality in the workplace, gender lens investing, organizational change, gender, peace and security, and program management. Ms. Vazquez co-leads the USAID Scaling up Renewable Energy (SURE) Gender Smart Energy Services and Investments Activity, which supports investors in the energy sector to integrate a gender lens into their investments. Furthermore, Ms. Vazquez provides gender investing advice to SURE partner FENOGE, a public fund that invests in renewable energy projects in Colombia. In addition to her law degree from Universidad Panamericana in Mexico, Ms. Vazquez has a Graduate degree in Policy Management and a Certificate in Gender Peace and Security from Georgetown University. Mariana is fluent in Spanish and speaks Haitian Creole.