Maria Fernanda Trigo, a Bolivian national, currently serves as Director of the Department for Effective Public Management and previously performed the functions of Deputy Director of the Department of Democratic Sustainability and Special Missions, Secretary for Political Affairs devoting mainly to the development and implementation of the policy analysis of the Secretary General. Mrs. Trigo has worked at the OAS since 1999. She began as part of initial team of the Secretariat of the Summit of the Americas, supporting governments in the organization, preparation and negotiation of documents of the Summit of Quebec (2001), Monterrey (2004) and Mar del Plata (2006), and coordinating the Joint Working Group on International supporters of the Summit Process. She previously worked at the Mission of Bolivia to the OAS in organizing the Summit on Sustainable Development (1996).

Mrs. Trigo has a Masters in International Relations from Georgetown University, Washington DC and a BA in Mathematics from St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana.