Isabella Navarro Grueter holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) and a master’s degree in Organizational Development from the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM). She has pursued specialized courses in Fund Raising at Dartmouth College and Indiana University. 

She was the founder and coordinator of the Communication and Fund-Raising Department at Cáritas de Monterrey, A.C. (Social Charity Institution) for ten years. For four years, she was a host in the television show “Ayuda”, which airs on channel 12 of Monterrey. She developed the projects to create several social aid organizations such as the Instituto para la Promoción de la Persona con Discapacidad de Nuevo León, A.C. (The Nuevo León Institute for the Promotion of the Disabled - TEMPLE), and the Banco de Alimentos Cáritas de Monterrey, A.C. (The Cáritas de Monterrey Food Bank, the first Food Bank in Mexico); and she was responsible for preparing and publishing the first two editions of the Directorio de Instituciones de Asistencia Social (Directory of Social Aid Institutions) of Monterrey and its Metropolitan Area. 

For 14 years, she held the position of Director of Development at the Universidad de Monterrey. She was responsible for coordinating UDEM’s first three financial campaigns. 

She has been the Vice President of Whole-person Education at UDEM since January 2011. This department is in charge of coordinating efforts to integrate into everyday life UDEM’s educational model, whose goal is to provide the students with comprehensive education, harmoniously developing the five dimensions of a person.  

She has been a university professor since 1988 and a professor with the Center for Philanthropy of Indiana University since 1997, through Procura, the Institute for the Training in Fund Raising. She has been a speaker in national and international congresses, a consultant with various civil society organizations and a collaborator for several causes at the local and national level, to help them strengthen their Boards and consolidate their Fund-Raising processes.  

She was the second Mexican woman to be accredited by the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals (AFP). She was a founder and chair of the Monterrey Chapter of AFP, and a co-chair of the Latin American & Caribbean Initiative Task Force of that organization, for three years. She has also been an advisor with the CASE Mexican Advisory Group de CASE, chair of the Adoptions Committee at the “Hospital, Clínica y Maternidad Conchita” for four years, and a board member with the following organizations: Consejo de Desarrollo Social del Estado de Nuevo León (the Council for Social Development of the State of Nuevo León), Consejo Consultivo de la Secretaria de Desarrollo Social del municipio de San Pedro Garza García (the Consultative Council of the Secretariat for Social Development of the municipality of San Pedro Garza García), Seminario de Monterrey (The Seminary of Monterrey); Fundación Adelaida Lafón (the Adelaida Lafón Foundation); Consejo Cívico de las Instituciones de N.L. (the Civic Council of Institutions of Nuevo León); and Emprende Mujer (Enterprising Woman); as well as a volunteer with Conciencia Ciudadana por México (Citizen Awareness for Mexico).