Juan Gabriel Valdés was minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Chile from 1999 to 2000, ambassador of Chile to the United States from 2014 to 2018, ambassador and Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations (2000-2004), ambassador of Chile to Spain (1990-1994), and ambassador of Chile to Argentina from 2003-2004. From 1996 to 1999, he was Chile's Trade Negotiator. He also served as Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations and Chief of the United Nations Mission in Haiti from 2004 to 2006. 

Mr. Valdés hold a PhD in Political Science from Princeton University and has been a research fellow and conducted graduate seminars at the Latin American Studies Center at Princeton University and at Notre Dame Kellogg Institute of International Relations. From 2006 to 2010, he organized a public foundation dedicated to the promotion of Chile in the world, “Fundación Imagen de Chile." He is the author of studies on Latin American political and economic relations. His book Pinochet's Economists: The Chicago School of Economics in Chile was published by Cambridge University Press and was republished this year by Fondo de Cultura Economica. During the second semester 2010, he was visiting professor of International Relations at the Institut d’Hautes Etudes de l'Amerique Latine at the University of Paris, Sorbonne III. In 2011, he joined the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) as a Consultant in matters of international affairs. After finishing his term as ambassador in Washington DC in 2019, he was appointed member of High Level Advisory Board on Mediations of the Secretary General of the United Nations. During 2019, he was visiting professor of International Relations at Columbia University in New York. Since 2020 until his appointment by President Boric as Ambassador to the United States, he has been Director of Institutional and Strategic Affairs at the University of Chile in Santiago.