Carlos Centeno Lairet is the Director of Programs and Operations at MIT DesignX, where he oversees the operations that support DesignX programs and leads the design and activation of strategic initiatives, communications, and network building across MIT and beyond.

He is a 2026 Ethics & Technology Practitioner Fellow at Stanford University’s McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, where his work explores the ethical and societal implications of emerging technologies. Previously, he served as Associate Director of Innovation at the MIT Governance Lab (GOV/LAB), where he co-founded and led the Governance Innovation Initiative, and at MIT Solve, where he worked with innovators and cross-sector leaders to advance social-impact ventures. Prior to coming to MIT, Carlos spent a decade with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) working on humanitarian emergency preparedness and response in complex contexts across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

He is a Pulitzer grantee for his work on AI accountability and was part of the investigative journalism team that covered disappearances and detentions by the US federal government, winning a National Magazine Award, an Al Neuharth Award and the National Journalism Award in Venezuela (2026).

Carlos holds a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communications (2004) and an M.A. in Global & International Studies focused on Civil-Military relations (2007), both from the University of Kansas. Most recently he was part of the Ethics, Technology and Public Policy for Practitioners Program (2024) and the Creativity and Design Thinking Program (2023), both at Stanford University.