Paola Garcia Hidalgo

Executive Director, Mexico Relations

Phone: 480-965-8404

Email: pgarciah@asu.edu

Paola serves as Executive Director, Mexico Relations, at ASU's Office of Government and Community Engagement. In this role, she develops strategic collaboration with Mexican government agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and corporations. Working with units and across the university, she identifies mutual interests with Mexican partners, shapes jointly solution-driven initiatives, and helps the launch and implementation.

Prior to this role, Paola served as the first program manager of ASU's Spirit of Service Scholars. This initiative honors and prepares outstanding students interested in public service. She developed the programming, operations, and evaluation for the program's first two years.

In Mexico, she worked at economic development agencies in Sonora, strengthening the supply chain management and foreign companies’ soft landing. She also worked on small business development, as the founding executive director of a nonprofit organization where she helped prepare hundreds of business plans. She was also director of a tech-based business incubator.

Paola earned a B.S. in industrial and systems engineering (summa cum laude) from Tecnológico de Monterrey; a master’s degree in public affairs, and a portfolio in nonprofit studies from the University of Texas at Austin. As a digital transformation enthusiast, in 2021 she earned a Certificate on Digital Transformation from MIT Professional Education, and in 2023 she's pursuing the Professional Certificate in Digital Transformation from MIT Professional Education