Cynthia A. Telles was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Costa Rica on January 30, 2022.

Previously, Ambassador Telles was a Clinical Professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and served on the Executive Committee of the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She was also the founding director of the UCLA Hispanic Neuropsychiatric Center of Excellence. In addition, she served on the board of directors of the Pacific Council on International Policy for more than a decade and was most recently appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as chair of the Mexico-Los Angeles Commission.

Ambassador Telles was a Los Angeles city commissioner for nearly two decades and most recently was a member of the Los Angeles World Airports Commission. At the national level, Ambassador Telles served on the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. She served on the board of directors of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals (Kaiser Permanente) for 18 years. In addition, she was a member of the founding board of Americas United Bank, the first Hispanic commercial bank incorporated in California in more than 30 years. Her numerous philanthropic activities included her service as president of the California Community Foundation and president of The California Endowment, California’s largest health foundation.

Telles was an event speaker at the Dialogue.