Her Story
About Felicitas
Felicitas Colombo
Bridging Policy, Public Affairs, and Purpose
Felicitas Colombo is a public affairs and policy professional with more than 25 years of experience 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 built a strong foundation in strategic communications before expanding her focus to public policy, governance, and institutional affairs. Over the course of her career, she has worked across healthcare, the alcoholic beverages industry, and international sports, developing a distinctive ability to navigate complex regulatory environments, manage high-stakes challenges, and bring diverse stakeholders together around common objectives.
One of the defining chapters of her career came during her tenure as Director of Public Affairs for Concacaf, when she worked diligently during the global FIFA Gate scandal and subsequent organizational reform process. Managing communications and crisis response during one of the most closely scrutinized periods in international sports governance became, in her words, her “PhD in crisis management.” This experience profoundly shaped her perspective on ethics, transparency, accountability, and institutional reform. It also reinforced her belief that effective public affairs is not simply about managing perceptions, it is about helping organizations understand risk, build trust, and create sustainable solutions to foreseeable threats.
Felicitas later earned an Executive Master’s in Public Administration from The London School of Economics and Political Science, with a focus on regulatory analysis, risk management, and compliance systems.
Today, she leads the Public Affairs practice at Intelligethics, where she focuses on healthcare policy, stakeholder engagement, strategic communications, and public-private partnerships. Felicitas also serves as Chief Editor of Vaccines Beat, a global monthly publication dedicated to a 360-degree perspective on immunization, bringing together scientific, policy, regulatory, and public health perspectives.
She is actively involved with the World Association of PPP Units and Professionals (WAPPP), among other international organizations, and regularly moderates high-level panels and contributes to international congresses and forums on healthcare innovation, governance, public-private partnerships, and policy reform.
Passionate about bridging the gap between science, policy, and the public, Felicitas believes that complex information only becomes truly valuable when people can understand and act on it. Her work is driven by a commitment to translating complicated policy and scientific concepts into clear and meaningful communication, ultimately helping improve public understanding, strengthen decision-making, and ultimately impacting 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 seized the opportunity when doors opened, and I took the challenge. Sometimes I didn't know if I was going to perform or succeed, but I took the chance. I don't take No for an answer. If somebody says No, I start wondering why. That curiosity has pushed me to look for solutions rather than accept limitations.
I also believe that having a positive frame of mind can take you much further than you might imagine. We sometimes underestimate how powerful our mindset is. When you approach challenges with optimism, determination, and a willingness to learn, you can accomplish far more than you initially thought possible.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is to follow your passion, persevere, and trust that abundance will follow. And by abundance, I mean something much bigger than material success. I mean being fulfilled by what you do and making the most of your talents.
I learned this lesson personally when I tried to do an 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 develop your natural talents. Sometimes the path you think you are supposed to take is not the path that is right for you.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think the most important thing to ask yourself is what truly 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 and meaningful policy change can take time. So, you need to understand what drives you and persevere. You have to really understand what drives you because that's what will keep you going when things get difficult, when progress seems slow, or when you encounter resistance.
I would also encourage young women not to be afraid of challenging the status quo. Ask questions. Be curious. Speak up and ask why. You don’t have to have all the answers to contribute meaningfully to a conversation. Sometimes the most valuable contribution is simply probing questions nobody dares to ask.
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 about what happens behind the scenes in public affairs, policy, and regulation, even though these decisions ultimately affect us all.
If we knew how policies are developed, how competing interests interfere, and how regulatory resolutions affect our everyday lives, we would make more informed and responsible decisions. In healthcare, for sure.
We take care of our body and the balance of our health with so little information. We trust the institution or person in front of us, but even they lack information. They themselves are working within systems where information can be fragmented, constantly evolving, or is difficult to translate into practical guidance.
So, I think strategic communications is the biggest challenge now and the biggest opportunity. Transforming complex scientific, regulatory and policy concepts into everyday clear and practical recommendations.
Then there's managing interests. That's another big challenge. There's lots of push and pull between stakeholders. Budgets are finite, yet it seems that healthcare needs are infinite. This makes policy decisions incredibly complex. It’s a major challenge when we focus on saving pennies on decisions that can ultimately make or break healthcare outcomes.
The biggest reward for me in this field is working with patients because you see that they never give up. They remind you why this work matters.
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