Ursula Velarde

Ursula Velarde is a Transportation Engineer who holds a Master’s in Engineering Sciences—also in transportation—from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. With a well-established career in transportation planning consultancy, she has specialized in infrastructure and transportation services in Latin America. She currently serves as Director and Operations Leader for Latin America at Steer.

Throughout her career, she has advised governments and concessionaires on various infrastructure and transportation service projects in Latin America, including PPPs for highways, ports, airports, and trains in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. Her expertise includes transportation policy studies and evaluations, due diligence for financial closings and concession asset transactions, demand forecasting, and PPP structuring.

Some of her most notable recent projects include conducting due diligence for multilateral banking on financing for the acquisition of nearly 1,000 electric buses for Santiago, Chile, and reviewing the financial model for the city's integrated metro and bus system, aiming to project and justify state co-financing for the coming years. She has worked on PPPs for much of her career, with recent highlights including advising in Peru, leading a due diligence for an investment fund evaluating the acquisition of 50% of the Matarani and Salaverry ports, and leading technical and financial advisory for Proinversión on the structuring and transaction of the Peripheral Ring Road.

With extensive experience in the sector, Ursula brings her knowledge and leadership to the development of transportation projects that make a significant impact.