Jaime Pumarejo Heins
Executive Director - Breathe Cities
Jaime Pumarejo Heins previously served as minister of Housing and Urban Development for Colombia during the Juan Manuel Santos administration. Mayor of Barranquilla, Colombia, from 2020 to 2023, he gained national recognition for steering the city through the pandemic and establishing a model for sustainable and inclusive urban development, earning him recognition as the Best Mayor in Colombia (2020-2023) by the NGO Colombia Líder and as OECD Champion Mayor for Inclusive Growth. Honoured with the WRI’s Ross Center Prize for Cities and the OAS Award on Innovation in Effective Public Management, part of his legacy is to turn Barranquilla into the first city in the region with 100% bilingual public education in partnership with the British Council, a model now being replicated across Colombia.
In his personal capacity, Jaime is involved with a new Colombian Mayoral initiative, Propósito Colombia.
Jaime will be stepping down from his role of Executive Director – Breathe Cities at Clean Air Fund in June 2025.