María José Franco Lugo
I was born in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. I am 38 years old. I have a degree in computer engineering from the National University of Asunción, have specialized in cyber defense and strategic cybersecurity, and completed a master's degree in software engineering.
I have more than 15 years of experience working in ICT in both the private and the public sectors. I have served in the role of senior specialist and national director. I have worked in telecommunications companies, software development, design and management of ICT programs and projects with a national scope within the Ministry of Education and Sciences as main advisor, in the Ministry of Finance as senior consultant, in the National Center for Computing and the Paraguayan Internet Domain Name Registry (.PY) as general director, and at the Paraguayan Internet Traffic Exchange Point (IX.py) as executive general coordinator.
I have taught at the National University of Asunción, Polytechnic College. Since 2004, I have been assistant and head professor of the following subjects: Programming Language I, Computer Networks, Network Performance and Security, Programming Language Structures, Algorithms and Data Structures III, and Software Engineering II.
I have been elected to serve on LACNIC's Electoral Commission from 2022 to 2025, served on LACTLD's Electoral Commission in 2020 and Fiscal Commission in 2022, and represented IX.py before LAC-IX from 2019 to 2022.