He studied economics at the Universidad de los Andes, where he also completed postgraduate degrees in finance and financial law. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. He was an associate consultant at McKinsey & Company in the United States, Venezuela, and Brazil and, until September 2006, he was the president of Valorem S.A. In that year, he began his career in public service as the high-level presidential advisor for reintegration and, subsequently, high commissioner for peace, a position he held until 2010. In 2011, he was named minister of environment and Sustainable development. In that position, he strengthened the National Environmental System, drove forward the National Plan for Climate Change Adaptation and the National Biodiversity Policy, and promoted a resolution that prohibited mining activity in nearly the entire Amazon territory until territorial environmental planning was completed in the entire region.
