As international program manager, Cindy Rocha plays a critical role in CDP’s international fund management function by ensuring strategic grantmaking and stewardship of CDP’s global disaster response and recovery funding and portfolio of partnerships.
With nearly 15 years of experience in program management in the nonprofit, governmental and private sectors, Cindy worked in Europe, Africa and Latin America before settling in the United States. Throughout her career, she has focused on fostering collaboration between different sectors and building strategic partnerships to address the needs of vulnerable people.
She spent the first years of her professional life volunteering and working for a youth-led organization where she held national, regional and global leadership positions. She transitioned to the private sector and joined a multinational logistics company, where she spent more than five years expanding corporate citizenship programs in the areas of disaster response and youth employability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
She was also a consultant for the United Nations Development Program with the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation, driving a strategy to engage the private sector in projects around the Sustainable Development Goals. Before joining CDP, she worked on building relationships with airlines to support humanitarian partners in delivering disaster response and recovery programs worldwide.
Cindy grew up in Sinaloa, a state in Northern Mexico. Through her lived experience, she brings a unique perspective on the challenges faced by Global South countries to address the root causes of inequality. She is committed to supporting community-led response efforts and contributing to systems change.
Cindy holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa and a master’s in international solidarity from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two sons, enjoys nature walks, and planning trips with family and friends.