Dr. Cecilia Martínez is the former director of the UN-Habitat office in New York and currently serves as Chair of the Board, WRI Mexico. Retired in 2013, Martínez has extensive expertise in housing, urban planning and design, as well as collaborating with diverse stakeholders within local communities, academia, and federal and local government in Mexico and Latin America. 

During her professional career Dr. Martínez has held high-level positions including being a member of the Mexico City Social Organizations Platform and the Board of FINCOMÚN. She is founder of the first association of microentrepreneur of Mexico City and worked as urban planning and design professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Martínez also worked as advisor to the Director of Housing and Urban Planning and the Undersecretariat for Urban Development of the Secretariat for Human Settlements and Public Works (SAHOP). 

Dr. Martinez is currently board member of Habitat for Humanity in Mexico and Chairs the Board of Placemaking Mexico.