Catalina Crespo-Sancho is serving a four-year term as the Costa Rican ambassador to the United States. A human rights specialist, she has more than 20 years of experience in international development and human rights. 

In 2018, the Costa Rican Congress elected her for a four-year term as the head of the National Human Rights Institution. During that period, the Central American and Caribbean Council of National Institutions of Human Rights also elected her as its 2019-2020 president, where she implemented a regional approach to deal with the migration crisis.

Crespo-Sancho worked at the World Bank and at the Inter-American Development Bank on development issues in Latin America, Asia and Africa. At the World Bank, she worked on the prevention of violent conflict, co-authoring the UN/World Bank report, Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict. She has also worked as a gender advisor for governments, including Costa Rica and Madagascar. Additionally, she has advised private sector organizations on corporate social responsibility.

After UB, Crespo-Sancho was a professor at Columbia University and the University of Georgia, where she also conducted research on immigration, gender and education.

A Fulbright Scholar for two years while earning her PhD from UB’s Graduate School of Education, Crespo-Sancho also holds an MA in international education from Framingham State University and a BA in psychology from Universidad de Monterrey in Costa Rica.