Chilean civil engineer and politician
Cristián Andrés Bowen Garfias (Santiago, April 18, 1980) is a Chilean civil engineer and politician, member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).[1][2] He served as Undersecretary of Transportation during the second government of President Michelle Bachelet, from 2014 to 2016.[3]
Family and studies
Born in Providencia, he is the son of programmer Juan Cristián Bowen del Valle and social worker, María Gabriela Garfias Alcérreca.[1] He studied industrial civil engineering and economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) and then completed a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University, United States.[2][3] He has been married to psychologist Alejandra Wormald Langdon since 2010, and they have twins.[1][4]
Public career
During 2005 he was executive director of the "Corporación Construyendo Futuro".[4] From 2006 to 2007, during Michelle Bachelet's first government, he served as an advisor to the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MTT).[4] He also worked as a partner of Neoner, the Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Company, and as a board member and advisor on administrative and legislative matters.[4] Later, he served as the executive director of "Fundación América Solidaria".[4] From 2008 to 2010, he worked as a parliamentary advisor in the areas of Transport, Public Works, and Telecommunications.[4]
In the municipal elections of 2012, he was candidate for mayor of the commune of Renca.[1][4] He was part of Claudio Orrego's territorial team in the primary elections and later joined Michelle Bachelet's presidential campaign in the "Programmatic Commission of Transportation".[4] He worked as an associate consultant for "CIS, Ingenieros Consultores" until 2014.[5]
After Michelle Bachelet won the presidency, he served as Undersecretary of Transportation from March 11, 2014, until November 18, 2016, when President Bachelet made a cabinet change.[5][6]
References