Ernesto Archila
Climate and Financial Regulation Policy Director, Climate Program
Ernesto is the Climate and Financial Regulation Policy Director at Public Citizen. Previously, he led Rainforest Action Network’s banks campaign, developing and implementing strategic approaches to pressure and persuade the world’s largest banks to stop financing fossil fuel expansion and support a just transition. He also led the organization’s inside engagement with the top Wall Street banks.
Ernesto served for six years as a political appointee in the U.S. Department of Labor during the Obama Administration. His roles included Senior Policy Advisor, Special Assistant to the Secretary, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, and Workforce Analyst. His portfolio included counter-trafficking in persons policy coordination, guestworker protections, worker rights, human rights in global supply chains, and work-family policy.
After leaving government in 2016, Ernesto consulted for several anti-trafficking NGOs, and served as co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). He subsequently joined Oxfam America, where he led labor and mandatory human rights due diligence policy advocacy and private sector engagement efforts focused on the U.S. operations of companies. He spearheaded the creation of a national certification to raise wages and celebrate employers who pay a living wage. He holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Philosophy from NYU.