Bio
Raul Gallegos is a Director of the political risk practice in the Americas for Control Risks, a global risk management consultancy. Raul leads a team of analysts and consultants advising mining, oil & gas, food, consumer products, and technology companies on how to engage with governments, activists, communities, and even anticipate challenges from armed groups in the Andean region. His specialty is using strategic foresight through scenarios to advice clients on how to anticipate, prepare for, and overcome adversity. Raul has briefed officials at the US Department of Energy and the US Department of State on political, social and security issues in the Americas.
Before joining Control Risks, he had a long career in journalism including as foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Caracas, political and finance columnist for Reuters and Bloomberg in New York, and as a reporter for the LA Times in Southern California. He is a frequent media commentator, having written opinion for The New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Foreign Affairs magazine. Raul was featured in the BBC TWO documentary “Revolution in Ruins” (2019).
Raul is the author of the award-winning book “Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela” (2016), a cautionary tale about how the country with the largest oil reserves in the world ended in one the worst crises in recorded history. The book has been recommended by The New York Times, the Financial Times and The Guardian newspapers. Crude Nation has been praised by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Ian Bremmer, and Moises Naim, and was cited in the show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Crude Nation was awarded the Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize by the Columbia Journalism School.
Raul earned a BA in economics at the University of California at Berkeley. And he holds an MA in international affairs, and a second MA in journalism, both from Columbia University. He was selected to serve as a Knight-Bagehot fellow in Columbia’s Business School. Gallegos grew up in El Salvador during a time of civil war, and currently lives in Bogota, Colombia.