David Alzate is a second-year MPP student born and raised in Quito, Ecuador. His goal is to implement evidence-based solutions in international development. Outside of the classroom, David works as a Consultant for the World Bank’s Social Protection & Jobs Global Unit. In his first year at Jackson, he worked as a research manager intern at the Yale Economic Growth Center and co-founded the Jackson Latin America and the Caribbean student organization.
Prior to Yale, David spent four years working at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At J-PAL, he collaborated with governments in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Spain to evaluate anti-corruption, social protection, and digital governance policies. He also managed J-PAL’s Governance Initiative – a multi-million-dollar research fund with a portfolio of over 120 interventions aiming to improve governance in low- and middle-income countries. David earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service with honors in international political economy, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. He is a native Spanish speaker and proficient in French.