Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar

Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar (born July 27, 1972) is an American scholar, jurist, and nonprofit executive serving as the tenth president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Born in Matamoros, Mexico, he grew up primarily in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 14 years old. He graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School and received a PhD in political science from Stanford University.

He was previously a justice of the Supreme Court of California, where he served from 2015 to 2021 and was the first Mexican immigrant ever to serve in this capacity. During nearly seven years on the bench, he led the court system's operations to better meet the needs of limited English speakers. He was the Stanley Morrison Professor of Law at Stanford University and director of Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, where from 2013-2015 he oversaw the university's major research centers and educational programs focused on governance and development, international security, health policy, and climate change. He co-directed the Institute's Center for International Security and Cooperation and led the university's Freeman Spogli Institute's Honors Program in International Security.

In the first term of the Obama administration, he led the White House Domestic Policy Council's teams working on civil and criminal justice, public health, immigration, and regulatory reform. He co-authored the first ever report on the use of artificial intelligence across federal agencies. He began his career at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the second term of the Clinton administration. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cuéllar has published widely on problems in American public law and democracy, how fast-evolving technologies like artificial intelligence affect public institutions and foreign policy, and transnational challenges such as managing mass migration, illicit financial activity, and public health.

Career History

• President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2021-present)
• Justice, Supreme Court of California (2015-2021)
• Stanley Morrison Professor of Law and Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University (2004-2015)
• Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy, White House Domestic Policy Council, Obama Administration (2009-2010)
• Senior Adviser to the Undersecretary for Enforcement, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Clinton Administration (1997-1999)

What Cuéllar could bring to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: His combination of rigorous scholarship on governance institutions, technology policy, and transnational security challenges—demonstrated through co-authoring the first federal AI governance report—positions him to lead Carnegie through evolving geopolitical complexity. His two-decade Stanford tenure managing major international affairs research centers, judicial experience with technology and federalism issues, and multi-administration service in justice and regulatory policy provide the intellectual depth and pragmatic policy experience to advance Carnegie's mission of independent research, diplomatic support, and policymaker advice during a period of rapid technological and security transition.