Fernando Ortiz Báez is a Dominican-American strategist, planner, sustainability professional, educator, and author whose work explores the intersection of community development, public policy, and environmental stewardship. A Bronx native with deep roots in the Dominican Republic, he has worked across the public, nonprofit, and academic sectors advancing initiatives in urban planning, sustainability, and cultural preservation.

He is the founder of FOGA, a consulting and creative practice and Adjunct Professor in Columbia University’s Master of Sustainability Management program and holds master’s degrees in Sustainability Management and Sustainable Design from Columbia University and the Boston Architectural College. His alma mater is Pratt Institute where he majored in Critical and Visual Studies with a double-minor in Sustainability Studies and Art History.

From a young age, Fernando spent most of his summers in the Dominican Republic and currently serves as Advisor for Sustainability and Project Development for the Asociación Pro-Desarrollo de Villa Fundación (ADEFU), a local community development organization in his paternal hometown and as the Preservation and Community Development Manager at the Allapattah Collaborative Community Development Corporation in the Little Santo Domingo community of Allapattah, Miami. His community work has been recognized by the Ministry of Youth of the Dominican Republic, the Governor of New York, and the National Dominican Day Parade. Fernando lives between Miami, New York and Santo Domingo. 

As a writer, Fernando tells stories rooted in place, culture, history, and the environments that connect our past to the choices shaping our future. His work is grounded in a simple idea: places tell stories, and understanding those stories can help us build better futures. Moving between scholarship and storytelling, Fernando brings together research, lived experience, history, folklore, and the voices of communities to make complex questions accessible to a broad audience.