Chilean civil engineer and politicianCristián Andrés Bowen Garfias (Santiago, April 18, 1980) is a Chilean civil engineer and politician, member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). He served as Undersecretary of Transportation during the second government of President Michelle Bachelet, from 2014 to 2016.
Family and studies.
Born in Providencia, he is the son of programmer Juan Cristián Bowen del Valle and social worker, María Gabriela Garfias Alcérreca. He studied industrial civil engineering and economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) and then completed a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University, United States. He has been married to psychologist Alejandra Wormald Langdon since 2010, and they have twins.
Public career.
During 2005 he was executive director of the "Corporación Construyendo Futuro". From 2006 to 2007, during Michelle Bachelet's first government, he served as an advisor to the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MTT). He also worked as a partner of Neoner, the Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Company, and as a board member and advisor on administrative and legislative matters. Later, he served as the executive director of "Fundación América Solidaria". From 2008 to 2010, he worked as a parliamentary advisor in the areas of Transport, Public Works, and Telecommunications.
In the municipal elections of 2012, he was candidate for mayor of the commune of Renca. He was part of Claudio Orrego's territorial team in the primary elections and later joined Michelle Bachelet's presidential campaign in the "Programmatic Commission of Transportation". He worked as an associate consultant for "CIS, Ingenieros Consultores" until 2014.
After Michelle Bachelet won the presidency, he served as Undersecretary of Transportation from March 11, 2014, until November 18, 2016, when President Bachelet made a cabinet change.