Our team

The Manifest is led by two senior editors who have spent their careers inside the work we cover. One has led a Customs administration and applied trade policy at the border. The other has advised governments on trade facilitation reform and teaches how trade rules are made. Together they bring both sides of the border, and both policy and practice, to every edition.

Raju Boddu

Editor-in-Chief · M.Sc., MBA, CFE

Raju Boddu is Editor-in-Chief of The Manifest and an international customs, trade facilitation, and public-sector governance professional with over 40 years of experience spanning banking, public administration, customs management, financial oversight, forensic auditing, and national security. A former Assistant Comptroller and Auditor General of India, he served as Chief Forensic Auditor (Customs) and Treasury Consultant to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda before being appointed Comptroller of Customs (2012–2025). During his tenure, he led significant customs modernization initiatives, strengthening border security, trade facilitation, compliance, and revenue collection. Internationally, he has served as Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC) and Chair of the Finance Committee of the World Customs Organization (WCO). He holds an MBA (Distinction/Valedictorian) from the University of the West Indies, an M.Sc., and is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

raju@themanifestmag.com

Erika Medina Barrantes

Executive Editor · PhD

Erika Medina Barrantes is Executive Editor of The Manifest and a Senior Consultant at Instituto Aliança Procomex, where she leads trade facilitation, customs modernization, and cross-border digital transformation projects across Latin America. She has led multi-country initiatives involving customs administrations and international organisations across the Southern Cone, MERCOSUR, and Central America. Her experience includes Time Release Studies, coordinated border management, Single Window and Port Community System projects, and work supported by the World Bank, IDB, OECD, USDA/T-FAST, IESC, UNESCO, the UK Prosperity Fund, and the Universal Postal Union. She represents Instituto Procomex in the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group and is Professor of Trade Policy and Regulations at ESIC Business & Marketing School in Spain. She holds a PhD in International Relations.

erika@themanifestmag.com