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(Website) – Geovanny Vicente Romero writes an internationally acclaimed column for CNN. He is a Washington, D.C.-based political strategist, consultant and lecturer. Geovanny teaches Strategic Communications for Professionals at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies (SPS) where he also serves Columbia University’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee as a member for the year 2022-2023. Geovanny publishes investigative and analytical articles on political communication, democracy, development, human rights, governance, elections, the environment, and the role of women in society. He founded the Dominican Republic Center of Public Policy, Development, and Leadership (CPDL-RD). Geovanny earned a masters degree in political communications and strategic governance from The George Washington University among other degrees in law and public administration from Spain and Dominican Republic. Geovanny is the recipient of the Dominican National Youth Award for professional excellence, the nation’s highest honor for people 35 and under. Vicente-Romero is also the recipient of the Napolitan Victory Awards (Column of The Year Award 2020- CNN en Español), granted by The Washington Academy of Political Arts & Sciences™ In 2022, he was recognized as Global Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD – New York) – Politics & Governance (Class of 2022), following the opening of the 77th United Nations General Assembly, in New York.
In 2022, Geovanny Vicente-Romero, was recognized as one of the He-For-She Champion for The Denim Club, a group of male figures that work to close the gender equality gap by promoting equity and more opportunities for the recognition and visibility of female leadership. At the same time, Vicente-Romero joined the G100 as Global Advisor on Mentoring & Motivation a committee.
In 2023, Geovanny was named to Leaders of Color Class of 2023, alongside 60 leaders in Louisiana, Memphis, and Washington, D.C. In 2024, ahead of the Global Leaders Summit co-hosted by the city of Vienna (Austria), Geovanny Vicente-Romero was named a Voice of a New Era of Leaders in Vienna, Austria, as part of the #LeadershipRedefined global movement led by @femalefactor.global, a global community for a new era of female leaders enabling them to get their seat at the table by boosting confidence, competence & connections.
Geovanny has worked in partnership with New York University (NYU)’s Washington DC Campus to further educate the public about governance through the DC Dialogues series. He has interviewed the Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro, the Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader, Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe, Costa Rica’s President Carlos Quesada, El Salvador’s Vice President Felix Ulloa, The Inter-American Dialogue’s President Michael Shifter, among others. These talks were shared with the Princeton University’s community and were widely attended by stakeholders and NYU community members in Washington, D.C.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Geovanny works to elevate the visibility of and build stronger engagement with the Latinx community in the district through his work with a variety of local, national, and global organizations. Because of his experience as an immigrant to the United States and the struggles associated with learning a new language and adapting to a new home, he dedicates his time to working at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, where he both teaches English as a second language and community Spanish classes. His Spanish classes focus on discussions around pressing issues Latin American countries, as a part of his effort to bring visibility to the problems immigrants in the DC area faced in their countries of origin.
Geovanny represented the efforts of the the Mayor of Puerto Rico’s second largest, Hon. María Meléndez, during her visits to Washington, DC. Here, he paired with local and national news to bring attention to the ongoing struggles of the Commonwealth. After hurricane Maria destroyed the island of Puerto Rico in 2017, Puerto Ricans needed to reach out to the American people to tell their story and get support. He advised the Mayor on building a media campaign targeting three main groups: Congress, the U.S. administration (especially FEMA) and the U.S. public on the mainland.
We developed the slogan, “We Are Americans Too” and organized the largest campaign in history to put Puerto Rico’s second city on the map. The outreach led to greater federal funds being granted to address the city’s infrastructure, health and human services needs, partnerships with the likes of Harvard University, business and Congressional delegations, as well as renewed tourism interests. In this capacity, Geovanny met with senators and representatives from the two major political parties of the United States, leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rick Scott, Marco Rubio, Bill Nelson, Tom Carper, Bob Menéndez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Joaquín Castro, Ilhan Omar, Adriano Espaillat, Sean Maloney, Raul Grijalva, Joe Donnelly, Jose Serrano, Don Beyer, Madeleine Bordallo, among others.
Additionally, he was one of the judges for El Tiempo Latino’s Powermeter100 in 2019, helping to identify Latinx leaders in the district. Additionally, he assisted with the first sample-based election monitoring in the United States, Observe D.C., and took the lessons he learned there to the El Salvador, where he assisted with OEA’s observation of the presidential election in February.
While living in the Dominican Republic, he began a think-tank with young leaders called, Centro de Políticas Públicas, Desarrollo, y Liderazgo. Within the context of this think-tank, he contributed to Princeton University’s Wilson School of Public & International Affairs’ research on open government and innovation. Also, Vicente-Romero contributed to Stanford University’s International Clinic of Human Rights and Conflict Resolution on a study they were conducting on the prison reform the Dominican Republic was carrying out back then.
He worked for the Ministry of Public Administration in Santo Domingo and one of the leading universities in the Dominican Republic. He wanted to remain connected to academia as he always saw himself returning to university as a full-time professor. During his 4 years at the Ministry, Geovanny served as Public Policy Analyst and eventually he went on to serve as the Interim Director of the Dominican Civil Service at the Dominican Ministry of Public Administration, where their primary focus was strengthening the rule of law in ministries, provinces, and municipalities. Part of his job was traveling around the Dominican Republic giving speeches and meeting with Mayors and other local politicians. In this capacity, he gave more than 200 speeches as part of technical workshops and went on to give more than 15 guest lectures on public policy and communications at the university and graduate level.
His time serving as an election observer for the Organization of American States Electoral Observation Mission, the Georgetown University’s ObserveDC, Summit of Americas moderator, two OAS fellowships, programmatic initiatives and countless roundtables and events has prepared him well to navigate the challenges democracy is facing both nationally and internationally. Since 2014, he has been part of the OAS National Hubs Anticorruption initiative and moderated the Dominican Republic’s PrepTalks (National Dialogue with Civil Society) ahead of the IX Summit of the Americas, in February 2021.
He has expressed ongoing support and written extensively in his political Op-ed in CNNE for climate change action and women’s rights. He has expressed solidarity with other residents of DC in demanding statehood now. Reach him on Twitter: @GeovannyVicentR.