Xavier has more than three decades’ experience in National Society development, resilience building and emergency humanitarian operations at the national, regional and global levels. Mr. Castellanos has served the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in various capacities since 1981, when he started as a volunteer with the National Society of Ecuador. He joined the IFRC in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch in Central America.

In his previous role as Regional Director for Asia Pacific, Mr. Castellanos provided strategic and operational leadership on disaster preparedness and responses to COVID-19, tsunamis and earthquakes and other health and disaster-related emergencies. Mr. Castellanos also served as Regional Director of the Americas and in various leadership positions dealing with humanitarian response operations, disaster preparedness, and communications within the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, in national NGOs and with the Ecuadorian Red Cross.