Miguel Castro is deputy director, Program Communications at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At the foundation since 2012, Miguel manages a team defining the foundation advocacy communications strategies, as well as its global media grant-making portfolio. Prior to this, Miguel was special projects manager, Media Program at the Open Society Foundations. Over these years in philanthropy, Miguel has managed portfolios of investments in service of programmatic, policy, and advocacy priorities in dozens of countries across Europe, Africa, South Asia and China; and a diverse portfolio of media and communications related grants and investments in conflict, post-conflict and closed societies globally. His worked included furthering human rights agendas, as well as coordinating the dissemination of policy agendas, including efforts such as the launch of mediapolicy.org (now defunct) in 2011.

He focuses on improving media and communications measurement and impact analysis and is working with institutions such as the Center for Social Media Research at Peking University, the Media Impact Project at the University of Southern California, Annenberg or the Media Ecosystems Analysis Group.

A journalist by training and education, he has worked as a radio, print, and ENG reporter, and was press secretary to a senior public official. Miguel was visiting professor of Digital Media and Advocacy Communications at IE’s School of Human Sciences and Technology.

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