María Victoria Llorente is a Colombian political scientist with more than 25 years working on peace and security issues with a specific focus on peacebuilding and stabilization, public policy to confront organized crime, citizen security policies and police reform. From 2006 to date Mrs. Llorente has been the Executive Director of Fundación Ideas para la Paz (FIP) the most relevant think tank in Colombia on peace and security issues.

Before joining Fundación Ideas para la Paz, Ms. Llorente worked as an associate researcher of the Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico (CEDE, Center for Studies on Economic Development) at the Universidad de Los Andes, where she coordinated the Public Peace Studies Group, which conducted multiple research projects on violence, security and justice in Colombia. Ms. Llorente has also worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Colombian National Police Force and the Office of the Mayor of Bogotá on several projects related to citizen security policies, prevention of juvenile delinquency, and police reform. She has been designated by the Colombian government in several high-level advisory commissions on police reform, criminal justice and drug policy reform. From 1990 to 1994, she worked as an adviser for the Presidential Council for Defense and National Security and for the Ministry of National Defense on the design of citizen security policies and police reform in Colombia