President Luis Abinader has appointed Mildred Gabriela Martínez Mejía as the new director of the National Bureau of Statistics (ONE). She replaces Miosotis Rivas, who was named to direct the ECLAC Caribbean region office, a UN agency.
The Presidency reports that Martínez Mejía brings to the position over two decades of extensive experience in applied social research, with a distinguished career marked by significant contributions to public administration and sustainable development initiatives.
A clinical psychologist by training, she graduated cum laude from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) in 2001. Her academic achievements include a master’s degree in High Strategic Public Management from the Global Institute of Higher Social Sciences Studies in collaboration with King Juan Carlos University, Spain; a master’s in Applied Statistics from UASD; and a specialization in Scientific Research Methodology, earning summa cum laude honors from the Catholic University of Santo Domingo.
Martínez Mejía’s comes from within the ranks of the Statistics Office. Her 16-year tenure at the ONE has seen her in pivotal roles, including head of the Census Division and later the Census Department. In these capacities, she played a crucial role in the execution of the IX National Population and Housing Census (2010) and the National Agricultural Pre-Census (2014), along with specialized census operations designed for targeted public policy planning.
Beyond the ONE, she made significant strides at the National Council for HIV and AIDS (Conavihsida), where she spearheaded efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, advocating for a human rights-based approach.
Her dedication to sustainable development is further evidenced by her work as a technical assistant to the High-Level Commission for Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development. In this role, she helped identify priority goals aligned with the National Development Strategy and the Multiannual Public Sector Plan.
Since 2020, Martínez Mejía has led the ONE’s Demographic, Social, and Environmental Statistics Department. She championed initiatives to leverage administrative records and non-traditional data sources, with a particular focus on environmental statistics. Under her leadership, the ONE introduced new publications like the Atlas of Environmental Statistics and the Yearbook of Environmental Statistics, both first published in 2024. She has also overseen the production of timely statistics in response to emerging challenges, such as monitoring the Sargassum phenomenon.
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Presidency
29 May 2025