María Elena Giner is the former United States Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021. The first Latina and second woman to hold the post, she led the binational agency responsible for applying boundary and water treaties between the U.S. and Mexico. Previously, Giner served as General Manager of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), where she directed the development of $9 billion in environmental infrastructure, benefiting over 10 million residents.

A registered professional engineer and first-generation college graduate from El Paso, Texas, Giner holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Loyola Marymount University, an MBA from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Texas at Austin. She is bilingual, bicultural, and a longtime advocate for cross-border collaboration.

Giner was an event speaker at the Dialogue.