Ryan Cooper has a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Chile. Since September 2009 he is the Executive Director of J-PAL LAC. He started his career as an Evaluation Analyst in the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Chile, he then changed course and devoted himself to the creation and leadership of an educational NGO in Chile named OPTE. In parallel, together with a team of economists from the World Bank, University of California, Berkeley and Un Techo para mi País (UTPMP), he started a randomized evaluation of the UTPMP program in three different countries of Latin America. The UTPMP program aims to increase housing conditions and human development levels of individuals who live in impoverished settlements throughout the region. From November 2008 to August 2009 he worked as Research Analyst at IFPRI.