He holds a degree in Civil Engineer from the National University of Colombia, Manizales, Doctor of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics of the Technical University of Catalonia. At present, he is a Titular Professor of the Institute of Environmental Studies of the National University of Colombia. He has been Director-General of the National Directorate of Disaster Risk Management of Colombia. He has been a consultant of the IDB, the World Bank, UNDP, UNDRR, and other agencies of the UN. He is a founder member of the Latin American Network of Social Studies on Disaster Prevention (LA RED) and he has been a member of scientific committees of IPCC (SREX and AR5), ICS (IRDR), GEM (Science Board), and IAEE (Board of Directors). He is a Fellow of the ACI. He is a partner and the CEO of INGENIAR: Risk Intelligence. He was the winner of the UN Sasakawa Prize for Disaster Reduction in 2004, for his contributions to risk assessment am management at the international level.