Born and raised in Guayaquil, Santiago studied finance at Boston College before earning a master’s from Montreal’s Concordia University. He’s an eco-warrior as he is an active member of the Charles Darwin Foundation and Ecuador’s National Council of the WWF. His contributions to conservation led Rainforest Alliance to name him an Individual Sustainable Standard-Setter in 2005. He’s now back in Guayaquil, where he lives with his wife and four sons.