In early 2017, the president of México, Enrique Peña Nieto, appointed a new ambassador to the United States—the fifth diplomat to hold the ob in the last four years. Gerónimo Gutiérrez was nominated January 13, 2017, ratified by the Mexican Senate February 23, and started work March 2.

 Born in Mexico City on May 13, 1970, Gerónimo Gutiérrez Fernández earned a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Political Science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), in 1995 and 1996, respectively. He also earned a Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard’sJohn F. Kennedy School of Government in 1998, for which he received aFulbright-García Robles Scholarship.

Gutiérrez has worked for the government of Mexico for25 years, beginning his career as the head of advisory staff in the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (Treasury Department) between 1992 and 1994. In1995 he was director of President Ernesto Zedillo’s Economic AdvisoryCommittee.

Gutiérrez served as financial advisor for the Mexican development bank, Banco de Obras y Servicios Públicos (BANOBRAS) from 1998 to2000, and simultaneously as director general of the Miguel Estrada Iturbide Foundation, a think-tank sponsored by Mexico’s center-right party, PAN, from 1998 to 2000.

From July to December, 2000, Gutiérrez worked as part of President-elect Vicente Fox’s transition team, and then served as head of the Planning, Communication, and Liaison Unit of the Treasury Department from2000 to 2002. 

As undersecretary of state for North America, from January2003 to December 2006, Gutiérrez coordinated day-to-day affairs with the U.S.and Canada and supervised the operations of more than 50 Mexican consular offices in the region.

From December 2006 to January 2009, he served asunder secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean. He worked on normalizingMexico’s relations with Cuba, rapprochement with Venezuela, and negotiations with Central American countries.

From February 2009 to February 2010, Gutiérrez served as deputy secretary for Governance and Homeland Security in the Interior Ministry, where be focused on identifying and responding to threats to Mexico’s national security.