Mercedes de Guardiola is a strategic communications leader at the intersection of hard science and policy. She has told the story of some of the country's highest-stakes bets—from a public-private partnership to build a global quantum R&D hub and an energy venture developing a new path to limitless power, to a national initiative to modernize the technology behind GPS and a cross-sector initiative to end a 25-year drought in Lyme disease diagnostics—building the coalitions that turn breakthrough research into real-world adoption.

As the Senior Manager at Varnum Street Strategies, she advises deep tech companies and funders, leading client engagements across AI, energy, finance, health, quantum, and space. Mercedes specializes in translating innovations into strategic national campaigns, earned media strategies, executive communications, and funder narratives for policymakers, researchers, investors, and press.

Mercedes has built her career navigating complexity, from directing communications for global innovation challenges to developing brand strategy for Fortune 100 companies. At Luminary Labs, she led national campaigns, executive communications, earned media strategies, and stakeholder engagement for federal and private innovation programs. Her programs accelerated treatments and artificial organs for people with kidney diseases, the development of Lyme disease diagnostics for active infections, solutions to reduce Veteran suicides, advancements in measuring Earth’s magnetic field for GPS, and pre-apprenticeship programs for adult learners to address America’s labor gaps.

Beyond her professional work, Mercedes is a historian of science and public policy. Her book, "Vermont for the Vermonters": The History of Eugenics in the Green Mountain State (Vermont Historical Society, 2023), overturned previously accepted understandings of eugenics, the pseudo-scientific field of selective human breeding that became the basis of Nazi Germany. US Representative Becca Balint called it "essential reading" and the Vermont Political Observer named it one of the most important Vermont history books ever written. She has presented her research at Harvard, Dartmouth, and Middlebury, and continues to advise on policy responses and assist victims' families. She was selected as one of Vermont's three speakers for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's traveling Americans and the Holocaust exhibition as well as to contribute to the Vermont Historical Society’s 50 for 250, a commemorative volume marking America's 250th anniversary. Forthcoming research will focus on America’s national eugenics movement.

Mercedes is a Director At Large on the New York Junior League’s Board of Directors. One of the city’s oldest nonprofits, the NYJL trains women to lead programs and advocate for New York’s women, children, and families in partnership with more than 60 community-based organizations. Previously, she served on Nominating and the Strategic Planning Work Group; oversaw the NYJL’s revitalization of community spaces and short-term, high-impact volunteer efforts as City Impact Council Head on Management Council; chaired the NYJL’s partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award USA mentoring young people in leadership development; and chaired the NYJL’s parks restoration program with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. In 2020, she was honored as a Woman to Watch for exemplary service to New York City.

As a member of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Associates Committee and Children's Committee, Mercedes supports groundbreaking cancer research and pediatric patient care. Since 1946, the Society of MSK has raised more than $300 million to enhance the patient experience and support life-saving research.

Mercedes is a Dame of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, one of the world’s oldest humanitarian organizations and a lay religious order of the Catholic Church with permanent observer status at the United Nations. Since 2020, she has chaired the Order’s St. John Committee, which supports the Order’s global humanitarian works. Today, the Order of Malta cares for people in need in over 130 countries, providing urgent medical aid, mobile clinics, and refugee assistance in active war zones, during natural disasters, and in areas affected by epidemics. In 2025, Mercedes was conferred the Cross pro Merito Melitensi, the Order's order of merit.

Mercedes earned her B.A. from Dartmouth College with a double major in History and Art History, receiving the Jones History Prize for best thesis in U.S. history and the Adelbert Ames Fine Arts Award for achievement in Art History.