Santiago Giraldo joined World Monuments Fund in October 2023. His primary responsibilities center on developing a Master Management Plan for Teyuna-Ciudad Perdida Archaeological Park in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains of Colombia. He works closely with partner institutions in Colombia such as the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia-ICANH, the Indigenous Authorities, local peasant councils, and other organizations on project development and implementation. Previously, Santiago was as the Director of the Colombia Heritage Program at Global Heritage Fund.
Santiago has worked for the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia-ICANH as a research archaeologist, Coordinator for Archaeology, and Director-in-Charge of Teyuna-Ciudad Perdida Archaeological Park. During the past ten years, his work has centered on research and preservation efforts in Pueblito archaeological sites in Tayrona National Park and in Teyuna-Ciudad Perdida Archaeological Park. His investigations at Pueblito and Ciudad Perdida compared settlement and construction trajectories, finding multiple buried occupations dating to earlier time periods below the stone masonry terraces and structures on view at both sites. He is also the author of the Guidebook to Ciudad Perdida Archaeological Park.
Santiago holds an MA in Social Sciences and a PhD in Anthropology, both from the University of Chicago.