Matthew John Rodriguez                                                            
Schaumburg, IL

Matthew John Rodriguez serves as a member on the National PTA board of directors. Rodriguez embraces the mantra, “live to serve” and currently is the chair of the Family and Community Engagement for Northwest Cook Region PTA, Federal Legislative Chair for Wisconsin PTA and the third vice president for Nerge Elementary School PTA in Illinois.

Previously, he served as president of Mead Jr. High PTA and was the first Hispanic Illinois State PTA president. He has also served on 15 Illinois Board of Education committees.

Rodriguez has played an active role advancing minority initiatives in Illinois and has participated in the Urban Family & Engagement and Emerging Minority Leadership initiatives along with the Bilingual Education Advisory Council. He has also been a mentor for the Black Star Project, an initiative committed to improving the quality of life in Black and Latino communities of Chicago and nationwide by eliminating the racial academic achievement gap.

He was honored with a PTA Lifetime Achievement Award and was named the 2016 Illinois Father of the Year. He also received the 2016 Illinois Latino Legislative Caucus Award for his community service.

Rodriguez has two sons and enjoys being a father figure to hundreds of children. He is an entrepreneur, owning five businesses, while also running an aircraft maintenance planning department.