A Thank You to Tanya Pérez Echeverría
October 15, 2026
By Zak Yuson
CISV International welcomes Agustín Cuadra Buján, known to many across CISV as Agus, as Interim CEO and Secretary General. His appointment, effective 5 October, will run for six to eight months, or until a permanent CEO and Secretary General is appointed.
Agus’s CISV story began in 2006, when he attended his first Village in Jacksonville, USA, at the age of 11. His journey continued from participant to Junior Counsellor at 16, then to leader and staff roles on Step Up, Youth Meeting, and Village programmes, and to Village Camp Director at 21.
He also took on roles beyond the programmes. He served on the CISV Costa Rica National Board, was part of the International Junior Branch Team, and supported Promotional Associations as a Promoter for the Americas. In 2013, he ran for the Americas Junior Branch Regional Team and wasn’t elected. That didn’t discourage him from staying on as a volunteer.
In 2024, Agus joined the International Office’s Senior Management Team as International Communications Lead, where he built CISV International’s global communications, engagement, and partnerships function from the ground up. In February 2026, he served as acting lead of the International Office.
Education has been a thread through much of Agus’s career. He began as an Assistant in Extracurricular Activities, then worked in international education with LCI Veritas University’s Center for International Programs and the University for International Cooperation. At the Global Apprenticeship Network Costa Rica, he helped launch a national network that builds apprenticeship and employability opportunities for young people. More recently, he has been a professor at FUNDEPOS University, and he is the founder of Creativity Concierge, an advisory practice that helps leaders build creativity as a mindset.
He steps into this role at a unique moment for CISV. As the organisation moves through a period of transition, Agus brings deep knowledge of the International Office, its staff and its Members, and a career spent helping organisations through change: steering a strategic pivot from within the senior leadership team at Amani Institute, running more than 20 transformation initiatives at Cisco Systems, and leading marketing at Hyatt through the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a Prosci Certified Change Practitioner and Vice Curator of the Global Shapers San José Hub, part of the World Economic Forum’s network of young leaders.
During his appointment, Agus will focus on operational stability, safe programme delivery, and staff wellbeing, while the Governing Board leads the search for CISV’s next CEO and Secretary General, with input from Members and the community.
“CISV gave me my first experience of the world when I was 11,” Agus says. “My job now is to make sure every child, youth, and volunteer gets that same experience, and that we come out of this transition more connected than we went in.”
Agus’s journey shows that, through CISV, young people can grow into global citizens and future leaders.
Welcome, Agus.
CISV gave me my first experience of the world when I was 11, my job now is to make sure every child, youth, and volunteer gets that same experience, and that we come out of this transition more connected than we went in.
