Digital Transformation, Data & Operations

Gastón Sola

Strategy to Execution  ·  Operations & Performance  ·  Chevening Scholar at UCL  ·  Former Senior Government Director

I work at the intersection of operations, data, and digital transformation — designing systems that improve performance, coordination, and service delivery at scale. I am currently completing an MSc in Data Science and Public Policy at UCL as a Chevening Scholar, while contributing to UNDP's Digital, AI and Innovation Hub on Digital Public Infrastructure safeguards for Latin America.

Professional Experience

UNDP Argentine Presidency Buenos Aires City Government Buenos Aires Province Universidad Austral

Education & Affiliations

UCL Universidad Austral UNSAM UNR INCAE Business School Chevening Hanns Seidel Foundation Chatham House Global Shapers WEF Goodenough College

Research & Writing

Working Paper 2026
💳

Instant Payments and Labor Formalization: Evidence from PIX in Brazil

Triple-difference (DDD) analysis of 5,570 Brazilian municipalities examining whether PIX adoption expanded or substituted formal employment in cash-intensive sectors (2017–2023). Main finding: transitory negative effect peaking in 2021, reverting by 2023.

Working Paper 2026
🏙️

Minding the Gap: Multi-Channel Citizen Voice as a Policy-Analysis Capacity

Analyses Buenos Aires' citizen-listening framework as a policy-analysis capacity bridging operational dashboards and citizen perception across four public services. Develops a DPI-aligned conceptual model with implications for government feedback systems.

Research Design 2025
⚖️

AI and Regulatory Enforcement: A Comparative Study of Tax Administrations

Comparative research design studying how AI risk-scoring tools shift enforcement posture across four tax administrations: Argentina (ARCA), Brazil (Receita Federal), Estonia (EMTA), and the Netherlands (Belastingdienst).

Literature Review 2026
🤖

AI-Driven Automation and Digital Era Governance: A Critical Review

Systematic review of 13 studies examining whether Digital Era Governance strategies and AI-driven automation offer a more effective solution to bureaucratic red tape than traditional deregulation approaches.

Research Paper 2026
🗳️

Determinants of County-Level Democratic Swing (2016–2020)

Multi-source pipeline integrating electoral results, FRED unemployment data, MIT living-wage proxies, and SEER demographics. OLS regression with Monte Carlo validation (1,000 iterations; bias = 0.0004) confirms retrospective economic voting.

MPP Thesis 2024
🏛️

Towards an Integrated National System of Grants and Social Benefits for Argentina

Policy proposal for restructuring Argentina's national benefit and scholarship system, with comparative analysis of four Latin American cases (Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru) and a framework for interoperable beneficiary registries.

Selected Work

Data Governance · Analytics
📊

Integrated Performance Management System — Buenos Aires City Government

Built GCBA's integrated monitoring system from scratch: 500+ KPIs across 15 ministries, 20 automated database pipelines, and 20 executive dashboards in Power BI and Looker for real-time intelligence to the Chief of Cabinet. Certified gold by Bloomberg Philanthropies' City Data Alliance as a reference model for data-driven governance in Latin America.

Data Analytics · M&E
🗣️

Multi-Channel Citizen Voice & Service Gap Analysis

Designed and implemented a multi-channel citizen feedback system for Buenos Aires City Government, integrating data from digital platforms, call centres, and field channels across 180 public services. Built the analytical framework connecting citizen voice data to policy decisions and service redesign priorities for ministerial leadership.

Large-scale Implementation
📚

School Network Operationalisation — Buenos Aires Province

Directed the operational rollout of an educational innovation programme across 2,000 schools in Buenos Aires Province. Managed delivery of 250,000 books and 7,000 devices, coordinated 200+ field teams, and built the tracking and reporting systems that gave ministerial leadership real-time visibility into implementation progress across districts.

Programme Evaluation · Reform
🤝

Social Protection & Welfare System Reform — Buenos Aires City Government

Led integrated evaluation and reform of Buenos Aires City's social protection portfolio — 120 programmes across 6 agencies. Included clustering analysis to identify overlaps, elimination of duplications, redesign of eligibility criteria, and implementation of a centralised subsidy management model (ABM) to unify targeting and administration across the system.

AI Governance · DPI 2026
🛡️

DPI Safeguards Framework for Latin America & the Caribbean — UNDP

Contributing to the design of responsible deployment frameworks for Digital Public Infrastructure across Latin America and the Caribbean at UNDP's Digital, AI and Innovation Hub. Work focuses on governance safeguards, risk classification criteria, and implementation standards for AI-enabled public infrastructure at country level.

Institutional Reform · National
📜

Presidential Reform Decrees — Argentine Cultural Sector

Led the evidence-based institutional reform process at the Argentine Presidency that resulted in 9 presidential decrees on regulatory simplification, organisational restructuring, and efficiency in the national cultural sector. Included institutional diagnostics, capacity gap analysis, and cross-agency coordination to translate policy objectives into enacted regulation.

Business, Product & Operations Capabilities

My work has focused on translating complex strategic goals into operating systems, performance routines, dashboards, and cross-functional delivery mechanisms. Across government roles, I have led teams, managed large portfolios, coordinated technical and operational stakeholders, and used data to improve service performance, user experience, and executive decision-making.

  • Cross-functional coordination across policy, operations, data, technology, and external partners
  • KPI design, dashboarding, service performance monitoring, and executive reporting
  • Portfolio prioritisation, implementation tracking, and operating cadence design
  • User/citizen experience analysis across digital, call centre, and field channels
  • Data-informed service redesign and operational improvement at scale

Selected Engagements

Conferences, forums, and policy events

About

I work at the intersection of operations, data systems, and digital transformation. My career has focused on designing and scaling management systems that connect strategy, performance, service delivery, and decision-making in complex organisations.

As General Director of Monitoring & Evaluation at Buenos Aires City Government, I helped build the city's performance and citizen feedback infrastructure from the ground up, integrating operational data, service indicators, perception surveys, and executive dashboards across 180 public services and 15 ministries. At Argentina's national government, as National Director of Management Coordination at the Argentine Presidency, I led strategic planning, coordination, and institutional reform initiatives across a large public-sector portfolio, translating policy objectives into implementation plans, budget priorities, regulatory reforms, and cross-agency execution.

I am currently completing an MSc in Data Science and Public Policy at UCL as a Chevening Scholar, strengthening my technical toolkit in Python, R, SQL, machine learning, causal inference, and statistical programming. I also contribute to UNDP's Digital, AI & Innovation Hub on Digital Public Infrastructure safeguards for Latin America and the Caribbean.

My current focus is on applying data, technology, and operations to improve services at scale — particularly through roles in technology companies, fintech, digital government, GovTech, and international organisations.

Education

2025–2026
MSc Data Science and Public Policy
University College London (UCL)
Chevening Scholar · Goodenough College, London
2022–2024
Master en Políticas Públicas (MPP)
Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires
Distinción · Hanns Seidel Foundation Scholar
2018–2021
Master en Planificación y Gestión del Transporte
UNSAM · Universidad Nacional de San Martín
2019
Licenciatura en Gestión de Operaciones
UNR · Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Affiliations & Recognition

Chatham House — Member

Goodenough College, London — Resident Member

Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum — Alumni & former President, Rosario Hub (2014–2023). Represented Argentina at WEF events in Geneva, Brazil, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.

Freedom of the City of London — 2026

UNDP Digital, AI & Innovation Hub — Contributor, DPI Safeguards LAC

Tools & Skills

⚙️ Technical Tools

Python · R · SQL / BigQuery · Power BI · Looker · Advanced Excel · LLMs & Agents

📜 Certifications

Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I) · DataCamp SQL Certifications · IELTS 7.5 — English C1 · CELPE-BRAS — Portuguese Advanced

🌐 Languages

Spanish (native) · English (C1) · Portuguese (advanced) · French (in progress)

🧩 Frameworks

Theory of Change · M&E · Blueprint · Gap Model · Scrum · Business Model Canvas · MVP · Digital Public Infrastructure

Get in touch

I'm interested in roles and collaborations at the intersection of digital transformation, data, operations, and service delivery — particularly with technology companies, fintech, GovTech, multilateral organisations, and teams building digital infrastructure or data-driven services at scale.