Leonardo Yanez is a social and child psychologist with a Master's degree in Education at the University of Victoria, Canada. He directed the Basic and Preschool Education careers at Andrés Bello University. He taught at different universities in Venezuela and contributed to the design, implementation and evaluation of programs for child care and development.

As General Director for the Coordination of Social Programs in the Ministry of Family and Social Development and National Director of Preschool Education of the Ministry of Education (1994-1999), he led the scaling up of child care and education programs.