El Salvador: Heidi Bonilla de Cienfuegos

Born in El Salvador, Heidi Bonilla de Cienfuegos is the co-founder and Director of B100arquitectos in San Salvador, El Salvador (2007), a former bioclimatic architecture professor at the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in San Salvador, and the first architect in El Salvador to earn the following accreditations related to sustainable construction: LEED AP BD+C (2018), True Advisor (2020), Living Future Accredited professional (2021), Arc Performance Pro (2021), and LEED Green Rater (2021).

de Cienfuegos holds a diploma in architecture from the Universidad Albert Einstein in San Salvador (2006); a master’s in business administration and management from the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in San Salvador (2007); a master’s in bioclimate architecture and renewable energies from the Universidad Camilo José Cela in Madrid, Spain (2008); a master’s of architecture in interior design from the Universidad de Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain (2008); and a master’s of architecture in bioclimatic architecture from the Atlantic International University in Honolulu, Hawaii (2015). She also participated in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Program at the INCAE Business School (2018).

de Cienfuegos is the founder and a board member of the El Salvador Green Building Council (2013–), a member of the Colegio de Arquitectos de El Salvador (2006–), and the founder of “Mujeres a la obra” (Women to the Work), a program that empowers women to actively participate in construction and related industries, equipping women with practical skills, technical knowledge, and confidence to obtain leadership positions in the industry (2021–). Additionally, she has served as president of the Alianza centroamericana de consejos sostenibles (ACCADES — Central American Alliance of Sustainable Councils) in El Salvador (2017), a member of the US Green Building Council (2011–), and a member of Vital Voices El Salvador (2020–).

de Cienfuegos earned a “Women in Sustainability Leadership Award” from the WSLA Alumnae Group (2022), the Latin American Leadership Award by the US Green Building Council (2020), the Lead Earth Award from the US Green Building Council (2019), and the National Energy Globe Award from the Energy Globe Foundation (2019). She was selected as a VVGrow Fellow by the Vital Voices Global Partnership (2020), as a “Champion of the Sustainable Construction” by the El Salvador Green Building Council (2016), and as a finalist for the Architecture Biennale of El Salvador (2016).