Antonio Parés is the founder and principal of Walnut Hill Workshop, a consulting firm at the intersection of education, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector. He also serves as a senior consultant for brightbeam, leading high-visibility projects for national clients. In 2020, Antonio established the VELA Education Fund for the Walton Family Foundation and the Stand Together Trust, a first-of-its-kind fund dedicated to disrupting the education sector. Before that, he was Senior Director at the Donnell-Kay Foundation, education advisor to the Mayor of Denver, a district-wide project manager with Denver Public Schools, and a political campaign staffer in Texas and Colorado. Antonio started his career as a secondary social studies teacher at IDEA Public Charter Schools in south Texas through Teach For America.

Antonio has served on numerous boards, including the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado, GripTape Learning, and the Colorado Charter School Institute Board, where he served two terms as a gubernatorial appointee. Antonio is a graduate of the Pahara Institute and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network. He was born and raised in Colorado and is a proud third-generation alumnus of the University of Colorado Boulder, where he studied political science. Antonio resides with his better half and their incredible kid in Denver, Colorado.