Featured Alumni

PEDRO MARTINEZ

The Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2009
Deputy Superintendent
Washoe County School District

“Access to quality education is the social justice issue of our time. We need to embrace a vision in which all children reach their potential regardless of their family income or ethnic background. Our urban school districts need to be the catalysts for change: to ensure that our children can compete in a global economy and escape poverty. I am convinced that education is the best equalizer in society.”

In November 2009, Pedro Martinez was appointed deputy superintendent of the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada, a district with almost 100 schools serving 64,000 students. Martinez previously served as chief area officer of the Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school district in the United States serving more than 400,000 children. Before that he served as chief financial officer for the district and before that as the budget director for three years. He currently oversees a $5.2 billion operating budget and an $1 billion capital budget for more than 650 schools. Under his leadership, Chicago Public Schools has strengthened its finances and strategically aligned its resources with district priorities resulting in financial stability, bond rating agency upgrades and consistent improvements in academic performance. Martinez manages more than 200 finance professionals in six departments including budgeting & planning, grants, treasury, corporate accounting, risk management and procurement. Prior to joining Chicago Public Schools, he was the director of finance and technology at Catholic Charities and also an audit manager at Deloitte & Touche and Price Waterhouse Coopers. He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in business administration from DePaul University.