Greta Ríos, Co-Executive Director

Mexico City, Mexico

Greta leads People Powered’s work to grow the collective power of organizations and advocates supporting participatory democracy.

She previously served as founder and executive director of Ollin, a Mexican NGO that originally focused on inclusion of youth in the governance of Mexico, and then evolved to take on a broader mission of working toward a country with strong institutions, citizens and democracy. At Ollin, Greta activated thousands of young people to participate in their communities and democracy; supported innovative, large-scale participatory budgeting (PB) programs in several Mexican cities; and coordinated research and monitoring to hold government accountable. In 2019, Greta led and won a legal suit challenging a modification to the Mexico City Citizen Participation Law, which resulted in a new law being enacted.

She is part of the Ashoka global network of social entrepreneurs and the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders network, and is also a Vital Voices lead participant. Greta was awarded the UBS Visionaries prize for social entrepreneurship in 2019.

She is a professor at Tec de Monterrey, where she teaches courses on social movements and social project management.

Greta is focused on making people fall in love with democracy as a tool for attaining big-picture goals.