Mercedes de Guardiola is the Associate Director, Communications at Operation End Starvation. She has told the story of some of the country's highest-stakes bets—from building a global quantum R&D hub and modernizing the data technology behind GPS to developing the next generation of artificial kidneys and ending a 25-year drought in Lyme disease direct diagnostics—building the coalitions that turn breakthrough research into real-world adoption.

Before joining OES, Mercedes was the Senior Manager at Varnum Street Strategies, where she advised frontier tech companies and funders on strategic communications. Prior to that, she developed communications at Luminary Labs for a portfolio of public-private open innovation programs with clients including NASA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

A published author, her research on the history of eugenics in America focuses on the intersection of health and public policy. She has testified before the Vermont Legislature and lectured at institutions such as Dartmouth and Middlebury.

Mercedes serves as a Director-at-Large on the Board of Directors of the New York Junior League. She earned her B.A. from Dartmouth College, where she received the Jones History Prize for best thesis in U.S. history.