Lyana Latorre

Latorre graduated summa cum laude from the Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración (CESA) in Colombia with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, majoring in corporate finance.⁠[1]

She began her career in the United States, first as an investment banker at Bank Boston-Robertson Stephens in Boston and then at Nortel Networks in San Francisco, before returning to her native Colombia.⁠[1]

Latorre spent eight years at Arcos Dorados, the world’s largest independent McDonald’sMcDonald’sMcDonald’s is a publicly traded restaurant company headquartered in Chicago, known for hamburgers, fries, drive-thrus and its franchise network. Its origins lie in the restaurant opened by Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940; Ray Kroc expanded franchising from 1955. It operates across more than 100 countries, with the great majority of restaurants run by independent operators.Open the full entry franchisee, which operates in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. She first served as Latin America director of Ronald McDonald House Charities, then created and led the company’s Corporate Social Engagement department, serving as its director and as a member of the management team reporting directly to the executive chairman, responsible for ESG matters across 20 countries.⁠[1][1][2][2]

At Arcos Dorados, she developed and led the company’s youth employment strategy, “The recipe for the Future,” which was later adopted globally by McDonald’s Corporation; she also expanded Ronald McDonald House Charities programs in the region from 21 to 63.⁠[3][1]

On January 14, 2025, The Rockefeller Foundation announced the appointment of Latorre as Vice President and head of its Latin America and the Caribbean office, responsible for the foundation’s work in the region and for establishing its first office there in two decades. The foundation had set up an office in the region in the late 1930s, withdrew its physical presence in the early 2000s, and in August 2024 announced plans to open a new regional office in Colombia in 2025.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

Elizabeth YeeElizabeth YeeElizabeth Yee is executive vice president (programs) of The Rockefeller Foundation, an American philanthropy, responsible for the foundation’s global programs, regional offices, partnerships, and learning and impact measurement. She previously worked in finance for 17 years on transactions including infrastructure and energy deals, joined 100 Resilient Cities in 2015 and joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 2019.Open the full entry, the foundation’s Executive Vice President for Programs, said the Bogotá office, together with the offices in Bangkok and Nairobi, would strengthen the foundation’s voice in the Global South. Latorre said that, as someone from the region, she was especially eager to help scale solutions in communities where needs and opportunities coexist.⁠[1][1][1]

That same month, the philanthropy publication Alliance magazine reported the appointment, saying she would build a new team and oversee the regional office opening in Bogotá that year.⁠[4][4]

In December 2025, the Rockefeller Foundation opened its regional office in Bogotá, Colombia; Latorre cut the ribbon together with Elizabeth Yee and former Colombian President and foundation trustee Juan Manuel SantosJuan Manuel SantosJuan Manuel Santos is a Colombian politician who has been a journalist, minister of foreign trade, minister of finance and minister of defense, and was president of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. During his presidency he negotiated and signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to end a civil war that had lasted more than 50 years, for which he received the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize; as of October 2026, he is chair of The Elders and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation.Open the full entry.⁠[5][5]

On February 18, 2026, Latorre published a bylined article, “A New Chapter for Latin America and the Caribbean,” on the foundation’s website, describing the foundation’s people-centered climate action in the region, with examples including support for the Growing Hope regenerative agriculture program of the Colombian nonprofit FUNDAEC and a partnership with Acceso Colombia to help 100 smallholder plantain farming families transition to regenerative agriculture. In the article she said that understanding the nuances of a region requires being present in it.⁠[5][5][5][5]

As of October 2026, the foundation’s leadership list still names Latorre as Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean.⁠[6]

Latorre is the first woman to serve on the board of CESA in its history and has pushed to integrate ESG and shared value principles into the school’s core curriculum. As of January 2025, she was a board member of the Spanish nonprofit Ayuda en Acción; she has also long volunteered with organizations including the Colombian Red Cross and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and supports animal welfare causes in Colombia.⁠[1][3][1][1]

The Rockefeller Foundation: Official website: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyana-latorre/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]