Daniel Noboa

Daniel Roy Gilchrist Noboa Azín was born in Miami, Florida, United States on 30 November 1987, and was raised in Guayaquil. He is the son of Ecuadorian businessman Álvaro Noboa and Ecuadorian physician Annabella Azín. Noboa graduated from the New York University Stern School of Business in 2010, and later earned a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He studied at Harvard University in 2020. In 2022, he obtained a master's degree in political communication and strategic governance from George Washington University under the supervision of professor Roberto Izurieta, Noboa's former press secretary.

At the age of 18, Noboa founded his own company, DNA Entertainment Group, with the purpose of organizing events.

His father, Álvaro Noboa, owns Noboa Corporation, a banana exporter. Daniel Noboa is seen as an heir to the company. He has served as shipping director of Noboa Corporation. He was also commercial and logistics director between 2010 and June 2018.

The Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo revealed in October 2023 that Noboa is the owner of two offshore companies located in Panama, according to the Panama Papers. He is also linked to several other companies owned by his father in tax havens.

Noboa was elected to the National Assembly in the 2021 legislative elections, representing Santa Elena, for the United Ecuadorian political movement. He was inaugurated on 14 May in the same year. In that same May, he was appointed chair of the Economic Development Commission. His political ideology in the National Assembly been described as both centrist and centre-right.

Noboa was absent during President Lasso's impeachment trial, however a proxy voted in the affirmative. In March 2023, he was in favor of the muerte cruzada, in the face of the rejection and filing of the Investment Law, presented by the government of Guillermo Lasso. On 17 May 2023, Lasso invoked muerte cruzada, dissolving the National Assembly and ending Noboa's tenure as an assemblyman.

In May 2023, and with the dissolution of parliament amid the political crisis, he presented himself as a pre-candidate for the presidential elections of the same year, by the political movement National Democratic Action (ADN), and also supported by the movements People, Equality and Democracy (PID) and MOVER. His running mate was businesswoman Verónica Abad Rojas. His campaign has focused on job creation, tax incentives for newly established businesses and increased criminal sentences for tax evaders. He has also pledged to improve the justice system in the country amid growing violence.

His campaign is seen as traditional, drawing on the Grupo Noboa social welfare foundation founded by his parents, as well as his ties as chairman of the Commission on Economic Development.

In two July polls, he was polling at 6.4% and at 3.1%. In early August, Noboa was polling at 2.5% and 3.7%. In a poll conducted a week before the election, he was polling at 3.3%.

On 20 August, Noboa gathered 23.47% of the actual votes and advanced to the run-off election set for 15 October, facing Luisa González. His second-place finish was seen as surprising, with some attributing his rise in popularity to his debate performance. Noboa credited the young voter base for his victory.

In the second round, Noboa was elected, winning 55% of the vote. Elected at age 35, he is the youngest president in Ecuadorian history, beating the record of Jaime Roldós Aguilera who was inaugurated at 38 years old in 1979. …

Noboa was inaugurated as president on 23 November 2023, becoming the country's youngest person to assume the office after winning a popular election. Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, was the only foreign head of state to attend his inauguration. His inaugural address lasted seven minutes, featuring his criticism of the "old paradigms" in the National Assembly. Because Noboa was elected in a snap election, upon his inauguration he only had 18 months to govern and complete the rest of Lasso's term before the next scheduled elections in 2025.

Hours after taking office, Noboa pledged reforms to reduce violence and create employment opportunities in the country, even though he had not appointed a finance minister. He initially announced he would appoint economist Sariha Moya to the position, but ultimately had her lead the nation's planning secretariat instead. Many of his cabinet appointees were sworn in on 23 November 2023, including Labor Minister Ivonne Núñez and Zaida Rovira, who became Minister of Economic and Social Inclusion.

Two days into his term, Noboa ordered the Ministry of the Interior to repeal the Drug Consumption Table, which he said encouraged "micro-trafficking". He simultaneously instructed the Interior and Health Ministries to create programs to reduce the consumption of narcotics and provide treatment for drug abusers.

In conflict with Vice President Verónica Abad Rojas from the very first days of his mandate, he distanced her by appointing her "peace collaborator" between Israel and the Palestinians, a mission she was to carry out from the Ecuadorian embassy in Tel Aviv. At the same time, he announced the reorganisation of the vice presidency in order to reduce its powers. Abad Rojas accused him of sending her "to die in the war". Indeed, Noboa sent Abad Rojas to Israel just weeks after diplomats were being evacuated from Israel due to the October 7 attacks, and with decreased security while she remained outside of Ecuador.

In an effort to reduce overcrowding, on 15 December Noboa proposed deporting 1,500 foreign prisoners who are incarcerated in Ecuador. He also said he would consider constructing two maximum security prisons, drawing inspiration from El Salvador. …

In 2018, Noboa married Gabriela Goldbaum. They had a daughter and later divorced. In June 2021, a complaint filed by Noboa was accepted by a Spanish court to investigate insurance firm Mapfre, linked to alleged violation of privacy and disclosure of secrets involving data from Goldbaum during divorce proceedings.

In 2019, while still married to Goldbaum, Noboa met social media influencer Lavinia Valbonesi, hiring her as his personal nutritionist. They married in 2021 and have two sons.

In 2025, he asked Ecuadorian courts to reduce his child support payments from $5,217 to $1,739, a request that was granted in December of that year.