Pronouns: he/him/his
Hometown: Mebane, NC
Roots: El Salvador
Job Title: Program Officer at Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation; Co-Founder of LatinxEd
Focus Areas: Focuses on advancement, training, and evaluation efforts
Community Leadership: Board of Directors, Director, United Way of North Carolina; Board of Directors, Vice-Chair, NC Child; Commissioner, MyFutureNC
Program Officer at Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation; Co-Founder of LatinxEd
Ricky Hurtado is the Co-Founder of LatinxEd. In this capacity, Ricky helps lead the effort to break down barriers to success for first-generation college students and expand opportunity for immigrant families in North Carolina. Throughout his personal and professional experiences, Ricky has worked to find the intersection of immigrant rights and racial justice issues in an effort to unite communities and mobilize support for programs and policies advancing equity. Before joining LatinxEd, Ricky worked with PolicyLink, supporting their work with the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color and the Obama administration’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a consultant at Frontline Solutions, helping nonprofits and foundations enhance their impact. He has also worked with LearnFresh’s NBA Math Hoops education program and the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Policy Planning and Coordination. As a first-generation college student, Ricky earned his Bachelor of Science with honors in business administration at the University of North Carolina and a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. In 2018, Ricky was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 30 under 30 leaders in education.