National-Louis University issued the following announcement on Oct.
Marty Castro utilizes his multifaceted experience in non-profit leadership, business, law, education, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, community service, and government, to create profound and positive impact in diverse communities. Guided by his core values of social justice, equity, integrity, and inclusiveness Marty leverages his broad and deep local, national and global network of relationships and his professional and personal accomplishments to leave this world a better place than he found it.
As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Casa Central, Marty provides transformational leadership to one of the largest Latino social service agencies in the Midwest. Casa Central’s programs in early childhood education, afterschool, older adult wellness, violence prevention, behavioral health, and homelessness build strong, healthy and stable families and communities. Marty is responsible for all operational and financial aspects of the non-profit’s over $18 million budget and the organization's more than 550 employees. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marty has taken a leadership role to proactively educate and protect communities of color, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Marty has participated in numerous local and national initiatives to address vaccine equity and vaccine hesitancy issues in Latino and African American communities, including serving on the Chicago Vaccine Confidence Taskforce.
Also, during the unrest surrounding the murder of George Floyd, Marty cofounded an alliance of Latino and African American organizations and leaders in the Chicago metropolitan area. This alliance, known as 2/3rds United is meant to create new and strengthen existing relationships and initiatives among Chicago’s two largest communities, as well as to promote racial healing efforts.
Marty's more than 30-year professional career has included high-profile leadership roles in the law, business, non-profits and government. In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Marty to the United States Commission on Civil Rights (“Commission”) and also appointed him Chairperson of the Commission. He was the agency’s eighth Chairperson and the first Latino Chairperson of the Commission in U.S. history. Marty served as Chair of the Commission until December of 2016.
In December 2009, Marty was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to Chair the Illinois Human Rights Commission. He was confirmed to this post by the Illinois State Senate. Marty served as Chair of the Human Rights Commission until March of 2015.
In 2018, Marty was appointed by Illinois Governor-Elect JB Pritzker to co-chair his Transition Committee on Equality, Equity and Opportunity (the “Committee”). The Committee issued a report to the Governor to help guide his administration on a host of equity issues impacting the people and government of Illinois.
Marty is the proud product of Head Start and Affirmative Action in higher education. Marty was the first in his family to graduate from high school and the first to obtain a higher education. He graduated from St. Francis De Sales High School and received his B.A. in political science in 1985 from DePaul University and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1988.
Marty has extensive experience in board governance. He is a former corporate board member of Bankmont Financial, Inc., where he served on the Audit Committee, and of Harris Bankcorp, Inc., where he also served on the Community Reinvestment Act Committee. Marty has also served on the governance and advisory boards of a number of privately-held start-up companies and non-profit organizations.
Marty was recently selected as one of the “50 Most Influential Latinos In Chicago” by Negocios Now magazine and was also previously selected by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. Marty is the recipient of three honorary doctorates, most recently from Governors State University in May of 2018. Marty was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Roosevelt University in December 2011 for his work in advancing social justice. In June of 2016, Marty’s alma mater, De Paul University, presented him with an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters for his community activism and work in the area of civil and human rights. In May of 2016, Marty was presented with the Ohtli Award, by the Mexican government, its highest honor outside of Mexico, awarded to persons who have had a profound, positive impact on the Mexican Diaspora.
Marty’s Chicago roots run deep. Born and raised on the Southeast Side of Chicago, Marty is the son and grandson of Mexican immigrants. Marty’s paternal grandparents came to South Chicago in the 1920s and worked in the steel mills and helped build the community and parish that made up the first Mexican settlement in Chicago. Marty’s late father, Ray Castro was a prominent community, veteran and political activist and in 1980 Ray was elected the first Latino in Illinois history to be a Democratic Ward Committeeman.
Marty practiced law and was a partner at several prestigious law firms, including Baker & McKenzie, then the world’s largest global law firm. At Baker &
McKenzie, Marty practiced corporate transactional law and complex commercial litigation. Marty was also the Hiring Partner for the Chicago office and also led the firm’s national diversity efforts. Marty was also leader of the diversity efforts at his other law firms, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. At both firms, Marty practiced in the areas of litigation, and diversity consulting and training.
Marty was also the Vice President of External Affairs for Aetna, Inc., where he had profit and loss responsibility for Aetna’s diverse markets strategy in the Chicago Regional Market. Marty was also responsible for strategically implementing Aetna’s Chicago Regional Market philanthropy, with a special emphasis on helping to address healthcare inequalities in under-served and diverse communities.
Most recently Marty was President and CEO of Castro Synergies, LLC, a consulting firm he founded to support corporations, entrepreneurs and non-profit
organizations seeking to have a positive social impact on diverse communities. Marty’s commitment to philanthropy has been longstanding. Having served two non-consecutive terms on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust (the "Trust"), where he chaired the Trust’s Fellowship Selection Committee and was an outspoken supporter of diversity and inclusion both at the Trust and its grantee organizations. Marty is also one of the Founders of, and serves on the Steering Committee for Nuestro Futuro, the Trust’s Latino philanthropy initiative.
Marty also plays an active role at the international level. He has been selected as a member of the Global Diplomacy Lab (“GDL”), an organization that brings together international leaders to engage in informal diplomacy, conflict resolution, and connecting critical global and local issues of the day. Marty is also a member of the BMW Foundation’s Responsible Leaders Network, which brings together diverse leaders from across the globe to work on issues of social responsibility and sustainable development.
The constant thread running throughout Marty’s career has been his personal commitment to community service. Marty has been an active leader in community, civic and philanthropic organizations, and blue ribbon and governmental committees. Marty currently is a trustee and past chair of the board of the National Museum of Mexican Art, the only accredited Latino Museum in the United States. Marty is also the Chair of the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, which annually hosts Destinos, International Theatre Festival in Chicago.
For his leadership and accomplishments, Marty has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the American Humanist Association’s Religious Liberty Award for standing up to religious intolerance, the National Maestro Award from Latino Leaders Magazine; the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Cultural Champion Award from the Chicago Cultural Alliance, the Award of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; the Chicago Bar Association’s Vanguard Award; and the National Medical Fellowships’ Humanitarian Award. Marty also was the inaugural recipient of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Cesar Chavez Humanitarian Award; the Edwin A. Rothschild Civil Liberties Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, that group’s highest honor, and the Inaugural Bob Edgar Champion of Democracy Award from Common Cause Illinois for his commitment to good government and political reform.
Above all, Marty's greatest personal and professional passions are to be a social change agent, make a positive social impact and help shape his two teenage sons into good citizens who will continue the family tradition of community service.
Original source can be found here.
Source: National-Louis University
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