About me

Doer - Thinker - System Thinker

Who I am

My name is Gianina Caballero. I work in complex programmes involving multiple actors, large-scale decisions and fast-changing contexts. My focus is bringing order, structure and a systemic lens when a project needs to move forward.

Before studying the MSc in Major Programme Management at Oxford, I had already worked in infrastructure, development and public projects. The programme didn’t change my direction; it strengthened the way I was already working, managing complexity with a structural, results-oriented approach.

At the moment, my focus is on AI adoption, working with organisations to build the governance and value oversight foundations that turn their AI investment into real productivity and value for money.

I work across two modes:

Doer: as an adviser and thought partner to organisations navigating AI adoption and governance.

Thinker: as an independent researcher producing analysis and policy recommendations on complex institutional challenges. This work informs my advisory practice.

How I understand systems

People and organisations today have access to endless knowledge (reports, frameworks, benchmarks, best practices), but what I consistently observe is that 'knowing' is what takes real work: the capacity to interpret what any of that actually means for your specific context, your team, and your decisions, and that is what I help build.

I’m interested in what shapes a project beyond its visible layers: relationships, incentives, hidden tensions and decisions influenced by history. Identifying these patterns is what allows me to set priorities, reduce friction and keep progress coherent.

It’s not about looking at an abstract “big picture”, it's about understanding which elements truly move the system. I look for clarity about what to shift first, and what must not be repeated.

What drives me

I began my career researching markets, and from the start, it felt natural. I love to research, so I find it genuinely pleasurable. What has always driven me is the same: I want to reach the base structure, I want to dive into systems, decompose them, understand them, reconstruct them, question them. Finding what existing instruments cannot see, that is what blows my mind, every time.

It happens whether I am preparing evidence for a parliamentary committee, working with data on AI adoption, or analysing the feedback loops inside a complex programme, when the invisible becomes visible, that is what I keep coming back to.

Yet there is another side. Having the opportunity to lead programmes, coordinating across teams, backgrounds, countries and languages, navigating deadlines, influencing stakeholders, solving problems in motion (moving, deciding, connecting and advancing), that is what makes me feel alive in a different way. The intellectual and the operational sides of me feed each other.

How I lead

I work well in contexts of high complexity and change. I tend to take on the role that brings structure, order and sound judgement when a project needs to advance without losing direction. I lead with method but without rigidity, and with a pace that allows for good thinking while the work moves forward.

What I bring

These three components shape the way I work:

Programme delivery: I help complex programmes move forward consistently, reducing rework and keeping direction clear even when the context shifts.

Governance and oversight: I clarify responsibilities, priorities and decision points so teams know what to act on, when and why.

Human-centred: I work with the people inside the system, not around them. Teams perform better when they understand what is expected and why it matters.

Experience

I've led large-scale transformation programmes in public and private sectors, across national infrastructure, sustainability, environmental transitions and international trade; working with multiple actors, across institutions and borders.

Earlier in my career, I worked in research and consulting, focused on economic development, digital transformation and connecting local systems with global dynamics, in the UK and Latin America.

How I collaborate

I collaborate in different ways depending on the context:

With organisations: as a thought partner on AI adoption and governance, and as a programme leader on complex transformation initiatives.

With boards and senior leadership: bringing independent judgement and a systemic lens to strategic decisions.

With researchers and institutions: as a collaborator or contributor on topics at the intersection of AI governance, truth and knowledge in organisations, decision-making under uncertainty, and the structural conditions that shape how knowledge becomes action.

With fellowship and academic programmes: as an independent researcher and practitioner contributing to policy-relevant work.