Carlos Centeno

Associate Director of Innovation

Carlos is the Associate Director of Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Governance Lab [GOV/LAB], where he works at the convergence of engineering design, technology, and political behavioral science to co-develop tech-enabled governance solutions with both governments and non-governmental partners. Carlos is also a Research Affiliate at MIT’s Civic Data Design Lab, where he supports research that is making data responsive to constituents’ needs. Previously, Carlos worked at MIT Solve, an initiative of the President of MIT to solve the world’s greatest challenges through technology. At Solve, Carlos engaged leading voices from academia, the private and public sectors, as well as nonprofit organizations to magnify the impact of social impact entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Solve, Carlos worked for the United Nations World Food Programme, redesigning humanitarian interventions through a data and community-first approach, in refugee camps, tribal areas, and other complex environments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. At his last post with WFP, he served as Asia Regional Resilience Officer, where his automated humanitarian response prototype, ALIA, was a 2019 finalist at WFP’s Innovation Accelerator Google Launchpad. Carlos was a startup coach at MIT’s IDE Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC), an MIT online Bootcamps summer 2018 finalist, and a 2009-2011 CHC Congressman Leland Fellow.