Marques Whitmire currently serves as the vice president of finance and operations for PIE Network. Marques leads all finance, accounting, and human resource functions. Marques has over ten years of experience in finance and operations. Seven years ago, he finally acted upon a driving notion that he had intrinsically known his entire life: “Education could and should consistently provide better and more equitable opportunities to traditionally underserved students.” Since then, he has worked across the K-12 education space in a district, with a charter, and with K-12 service providers to ensure that all students are provided with opportunities to learn and succeed. At Indianapolis Public Schools, Marques led district efforts to modernize payroll and accounting systems and was primarily responsible for moving the district from a traditional staffing-based allocation model to a system of student-based allocations/budgeting and school autonomy. At Instruction Partners, he built and developed the financial and administrative systems that allowed the education non-profit to grow from $3MM in annual revenue and 15 employees to over $9MM in annual revenue and 75 employees. At Allovue, he worked with districts across the country to ensure their resources are spent more equitably. Marques is a Broad Residency and Pahara NextGen alumnus; he holds an MBA and an M. Ed., and is also a founding board member and treasurer of Believe Schools in Indianapolis. In his spare time, he listens to music, podcasts, and, occasionally, his wife. He also enjoys playing basketball games and having lightsaber duels with his two young sons.