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“As a young woman, my mother worked as a migrant farmworker and traveled across the U.S. harvesting fruit and vegetables. Having to move with the harvest, she transferred from school to school constantly, never staying long enough to make friends and always feeling like an outsider. Her story motivates me to fight for educational equity for young people who come from immigrant and low-income communities. Every child deserves a quality education and the opportunity to pursue their dreams.”

Marcos Popovich joined the Foundation in 2015.

Marcos currently leads the implementation of several grant funds and assists with the overall implementation of all grantmaking at the Foundation. Marcos has led the design and implementation of grant funds focused on building racial equity-focused partnerships between communities and schools, helping school districts identify and address racial equity barriers in their systems, and supporting school districts to authentically engage their communities in governance processes and decision-making. 

Prior to entering philanthropy, Marcos served as Director of Operations at the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, where he led national voter registration campaigns that registered thousands of new Latine voters and implemented leadership development programs that trained thousands of young people to become leaders on their campuses and in their communities. As part of his work at USHLI, Marcos co-authored three editions of the Almanac of Latino Politics, a comprehensive study of demographic and political trends among Latines in the United States. 

Marcos holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies with a focus on Latine studies from Bowling Green State University, a M.A. in History with a focus on Mexican American civil rights history from Arizona State University, and a J.D. with a focus on public interest law from DePaul University College of Law. Marcos sits on the board of directors at TSNE and Sociedad Latina. Marcos also serves as the co-chair of Boston Education Funders.