José Miguel Ruiz Verona has quite an extended and relevant academic background: a Bachelor's Degree in International Land and Water Management Engineering and a Master's Degree in Water Management, Treatment, Reclamation, and Reuse. All these, put together with extensive hands-on work experience, form a robust foundation for his professional journey. In his career, he has developed expertise in several areas that include management and leadership, sustainable land development and management, water management and resilience, DRR, and climate change adaptation and mitigation..

Gained experience of work in leading organizational design and development processes, agile teams, and cross-sector/cross-institutional collaboration by applying multi-level strategic thinking and planning, dealing with various actors at different levels. Provided TA and institutional support for the strengthening of the institutional framework, developed good relations, networking, and M&E knowledge management systems for social auditing and empowerment. Promoted processes for rapid decisions and learning cycles. Knowledge of the DAC-OECD criteria to ensure coherence of objectives with a development intervention, which must be coherent with beneficiaries' needs, country priorities, and global needs, as well as with partners and donors policies.

Among the most significant milestones in Mr. Ruiz's professional career are the following achievements:

1. Awards from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Mexico: At the 6th International Water Forum in Marseille, March 2012, the project "Access to Water in Rural Communities for the Territories States Citizens of Alagoas and Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil" received acclaim for its innovative approach to improving water access in underserved rural areas of Brazil. This award recognized the program's substantial positive impact on rural water accessibility.(Este programa fue galardonado por su impacto positivo en la mejora del acceso al agua potable para las comunidades rurales)
2. Recognition by the Honduras Secretariat of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment, and Mines (SERNA): The "Watershed Community-based Management – Our Watershed Goascoran" program was honored as a national model for watershed management in Honduras. This recognition underscores the program’s significant contributions to natural resource management and water governance (Goascorán Basin: national model BASIN – FUNDER & La Cuenca Goascorán es declarada cuenca modelo a nivel nacional (admin.ch)

Both programs were managed under the responsibility and direct supervision of Mr. Ruiz.

Since 1990, he has carried out diverse assignments for different entities in different world settings: Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay), Europe (Norway, The Netherlands and Spain), Asia (North Korea, The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore,  Laos, Bruney, Thailand) and Africa (Malawi). Some of the institutions for whom he has been working are Alterra Institute – University of Wageningen, University of Seville, UNESCO, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Euroclima+ and United Nations Development Program (UNDP),Spanish Business Overseas attached to the Ministry for Economics and Competitiveness. Jose Miguel is currently working for the Consulting Group Multilateral Cooperation SL (DEM) and the International and Ibero-Amercan Foundation and Public Policities (FIIAPP) as Chemical, Environmental and Civil Engineering Specialist.

He has extensive work experience, with excellent analytical, communication, organisation, coordination, and demonstrated people and process leadership skills which enable him to be a good team player, with strong Asian and Latin America Inter-cultural competence, project portfolio development and management cycle, partnership development, strategic planning and report writing, HR management and familiar with donors´ landscape