Mayra Maldonado serves as the Executive Director of the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness, a research organization based at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border region. Under her leadership, the Institute's research portfolio has expanded with new projects ranging from market analyses of El Paso’s broadband infrastructure, education, and regional competitiveness to economic impact studies of border matters on regional and national economies. Prior to her tenure at the Hunt Institute, Mayra honed her expertise as an economist at the Central Bank of Mexico and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). Mayra holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and a Master’s degree in Economics from New York University, earned through CONACYT and Fulbright scholarships. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Data Science at UTEP.