Her Story
About Felicitas
Felicitas Colombo is a public affairs and policy professional with more than 25 years of experience working at the intersection of strategic communications, regulatory policy, crisis management, and compliance across highly regulated industries. She began her career in public relations at Burson-Marsteller, where she developed a strong foundation in strategic communications before expanding her focus into public policy and governance. Throughout her career, she has worked in sectors including healthcare, the alcoholic beverages industry, and international sports, building expertise in navigating complex regulatory environments and high-profile institutional challenges.
One of the defining moments of Felicitas’s career came during her time as Director of Public Affairs for Concacaf, where she worked closely with FIFA during the global FIFA corruption scandal and organizational reform process. Managing communications and crisis response during one of the most scrutinized periods in international sports governance became what she describes as her “master’s in public policy and PhD in crisis management.” The experience deepened her commitment to ethics, transparency, anti-corruption frameworks, and institutional reform. She later earned an Executive Master’s in Public Policy from The London School of Economics and Political Science, specializing in anti-corruption, regulatory analysis, and compliance management systems.
Today, Felicitas serves as Director of Government and Public Affairs for the Americas Health Foundation, where she focuses on healthcare policy, stakeholder engagement, and public-private partnerships throughout the Americas. She is also involved with the World Association of PPP Units and Professionals and regularly moderates panels and participates in international congresses focused on healthcare innovation, governance, and policy reform. Passionate about bridging the gap between science, policy, and the public, she is dedicated to translating complex information into clear, accessible communication that can help improve public understanding and ultimately impact lives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Felicitas
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to passion, first and foremost. I also think I had the opportunity when doors opened, and I took the challenge. Sometimes I didn't know if I was going to be able to perform or succeed, but I took the chance. I don't take no for an answer, and if somebody says no, then I start wondering why. I think when you have a positive frame of mind, you can conquer and achieve so much. We think it's without effort, but really, it's in our nature to think this way, especially when you have that positive frame of mind.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to follow your passion and persevere, and then abundance will follow. I mean abundance in the bigger sense, not only material, but being fulfilled by what you do. I learned this lesson personally when I tried to do my MBA and failed the standardized test three times. I said, maybe an MBA is not for me. But when I started working in policy, it flowed through me. It was like in my veins. It was so natural for me to analyze the glitches in regulation and what needed to be improved so that you didn't have collateral damage or unintended consequences. That's when I realized what it meant to follow your passion and your talents.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think the most important thing is to ask yourself what motivates you to be in this field, because it's a challenging field. It's sometimes frustrating because regulation doesn't move as fast as we'd like. It doesn't change as fast as we would like. So you need to persevere and find your motivation. You have to really understand what drives you, because that's what will keep you going when things get difficult.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge in my field is accurate communication. We know so little of what's going on, really, in any industry. I'm talking about now regulation and public affairs and policy and how it affects us all. If we knew what's going on behind the scenes, I think we would be more responsible with our decisions. In healthcare, for sure, we take care of our body and the balance of our health with so little information, and we trust the person we have in front of us, but even they don't have a lot of information to take care of our health. So I think strategic communications and transforming complex concepts into everyday recommendations in healthcare, that's the biggest challenge now and the biggest opportunity. Then there's managing interests, that's another big challenge. There's lots of push and pull between institutions, governments. Budgets are finite, and it seems that healthcare needs are infinite. So it's a big challenge to have penny saving on things that make or break healthcare decisions. The biggest reward for me in this field is working with patients, patient groups and families, because you see that they never give up.
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