Welcoming Pilar Pardo as New Metro Achievement Center Director
From Spain to Chicago to Lead Metro
Incoming Metro Achievement Center Director, Pilar Pardo
CHICAGO—Midtown Educational Foundation (MEF), a legendary Chicago non-profit organization guiding low-income urban youth along pathways of success since 1965, has named Pilar Pardo as Center Director of its Metro Achievement Center for girls (Metro). Pardo will officially begin her tenure on August 1, and will work alongside outgoing Metro Center Director, Molly Powers, through the month of July to ensure a smooth transition.
Pardo will oversee the day-to-day operations, administration, and program development of Metro (310 S Peoria St), in order to carry on its almost 30-year legacy of helping young girls become successful women by teaching them how to be good students, daughters, sisters, and friends.
Powers, a respected educational leader in Chicago and former Metro volunteer, is stepping down from her Center Director role to support her family as they move out of state to South Bend, IN. Powers has been a huge part of the initial rollout of MEF’s Templeton Foundation grant project and will continue to support MEF remotely with this and other projects.
“I am thrilled to have Pilar Pardo as Metro’s new leader. She brings a unique combination of educational and professional credentials, worldly wisdom, and positive energy that will greatly benefit both the students and employees at Metro.
I would also like to offer my gratitude to Molly Powers. She has played an integral part in helping MEF’s student programs flourish through the pandemic as well as implementing systems to monitor student growth and achievement. I will greatly miss her drive and tenacity. We are truly fortunate that she will continue to support us after she departs in July.”
Pilar was born and raised in Granada, south of Spain. She attended college in Santiago de Compostela and received her Law degree, then moved to Barcelona to attain her MBA at IESE Business School, one of the most respected business schools in Europe. It was during this time that she knew that she wanted to work in a mission-driven business. She started working for Talleres de Arte Granda, which focused exclusively on the design and beautification of sacred spaces. Using her law and business degrees, she helped expand this business globally, traveling all over Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and Asia!
After helping to establish a US branch of this business in Chicago, Pardo decided to start her own business in Chicago, a distribution company of Spanish publishers called USAMadrid Books. Their mission: to serve the Hispanic community all over the country, to make accessible to them the best educational materials in Spanish, and to support and elevate their human and spiritual dignity.
During her time in Chicago, Pardo was always "around Metro" making many friends who were part of the staff and volunteers. She always felt close to Metro and held a great admiration for MEF's mission and vision. It is through this love and connection with Metro that Pilar heard about Metro’s need for a new Center Director. Her reaction was, “what could be a better mission-driven business than Metro? I can’t really think of any other place!”
“I am very grateful for this opportunity to work at Metro! I hope my professional experience during these past thirty years of great adventures will be a real asset as Center Director. This is the place to “think big” and dream of making a difference. With this team, great things are going to happen!
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When not working or traveling the globe, Pardo enjoys spending time with friends and family, watching movies, kayaking, and skiing.
MEF looks forward to Pilar Pardo leading MEF’s mission at Metro, guiding Metro students along pathways of success through academic excellence, virtue development, individual attention, and parental engagement.
About Midtown Educational Foundation: Midtown Educational Foundation (www.midtown-metro.org), through its Metro Achievement Center for girls and Midtown Center for boys, has helped close the achievement gap for underserved students in Chicago since its founding in 1965. Its programming, focusing on academic excellence, virtue development, individual attention, and parental engagement, has led to 100% high school graduation and college enrollment for its students for over 20 consecutive years.