Sergio Fajardo Valderrama (; born 19 June 1956) is a Colombian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. Fajardo served as the Governor of Antioquia from 2012 to 2016. He first entered politics in 2003 when he was elected Mayor of Medellin, the second-largest city in Colombia and the capital of Antioquia. Fajardo was the vice presidential nominee of Antanas Mockus in 2010, finishing in second place after losing the runoff against

Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade ...

and

Angelino Garzon Angelino may refer to: People * Angelino Alfano (born 1970), Italian politician * Angelino Apelar (1927–2006), Evangelical Christian leader * Angelino Dulcert, Italian-Majorcan cartographer * Angelino Fons (1936–2011), Spanish film director a ...

. Fajardo brands himself as a pragmatic politician with no particular ideology, with political analysts and media outlets in Colombia labelling him as a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

politician not tied to the traditional parties in Colombia. In July 2017, Fajardo announced his campaign to run for president in the upcoming elections in 2018. During the

2018 Colombian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 27 May 2018. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, the second round of voting was held on 17 June. Incumbent president Juan Manuel Santos was ineligible to seek a third term. Iván Du ...

, Fajardo finished third in the first round. In March 2022, Fajardo announced that he would begin his presidential campaign for the upcoming 2022 Colombian presidential election. He finished fourth in the first round.

Early life and education

Fajardo was born and raised in Medellín, Colombia. There he graduated (high school) from the Colegio Benedictino and then moved to Bogotá to receive an undergraduate and a graduate degree (M.Sc.) in mathematics from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. Fajardo later went to the United States for his doctorate degree, and earned a PhD in mathematics with a minor in economics from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

Career

Before entering politics at age 40, Fajardo taught mathematical logic at the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad Nacional of Colombia, while also taking part of organizations such as the National Council for Sciences and the Peace Commission in Antioquia. In 2003, Fajardo was elected as the first independent mayor of Medellín. During his four-year administration, he led a significant transformation of the city, for which he was named best mayor of Colombia in 2007 and has also received other national and international awards. In 2010, Fajardo was vice presidential candidate with the also independent politician and mathematician Antanas Mockus. From 2012 to 2015, he was elected governor of the state of Antioquia. During his administration, Antioquia experienced the best national performance in open government, transparency, and investment of oil royalties according to the National Planning Department and the Anti corruption Office of Colombia. He was named the best governor of the country in 2015 by the organization Colombia Líder. Fajardo launched his independent presidential candidacy in 2018, which was supported by the Coalición Colombia, made up of the Green Party, the Polo Democrático and his movement, Compromiso Ciudadano. In the first round of elections, Fajardo obtained more than 4.6 million votes, only 1.5% away from passing to the second round. Currently, Fajardo is professor at the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Instituto Tecnológico of Monterrey in Mexico and of the School of Political Formation of Compromiso Ciudadano in Colombia. A member of the Inter-American Dialogue, Fajardo intends to represent a

Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from ...

inspired by former British Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

to overcome the traditional divide on the

left–right political spectrum The left–right political spectrum is a system of classifying political positions characteristic of left-right politics, ideologies and parties with emphasis placed upon issues of social equality and social hierarchy. In addition to position ...

. The

Colombian Communist Party The Colombian Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Colombiano, PCC) is a legal communist party in Colombia. It was founded in 1930 as the Communist Party of Colombia, at which point it was the Colombian section of the Comintern, and changed i ...

accused Fajardo of trying to perpetuate the Colombian neoliberal system under the guise of moderation and pragmatism.

Personal life

Fajardo is father to Mariana and Alejandro Fajardo Arboleda.

Publications

* Fajardo, S., Keisler, H.J. (2002), ''Model Theory of Stochastic Processes''. Lecture Notes in Logic. Association for Symbolic Logic. A.K.Peters, Natick, MA. . * Fajardo, S. (2007), ''Medellín del miedo a la esperanza''. Alcaldía de Medellín. * Fajardo, S. (2017), ''El poder de la decencia''. Editorial Planeta.

References

External links

*
A conversation with Sergio Fajardo, former mayor of MedellínSergio Fajardo Profile at Mathematics Genealogy Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fajardo, Sergio 1956 births Living people Colombian journalists 20th-century Colombian mathematicians Indigenous Social Alliance Movement politicians Male journalists Mayors of Medellín Members of the Inter-American Dialogue University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni