Arnaldo (Arnie) Rivera, Member
Arnaldo (Arnie) Rivera was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and began serving on January 25, 2017. Arnie serves as Senior Strategic Advisor for After School Matters and has extensive experience in public education in the City of Chicago.
Arnie began his career in education as a first grade teacher at Walt Disney Magnet School on Chicago's north side. After his years of teaching, Arnie worked in a number of different roles in the Office of Management and Budget at CPS, including serving as the District's Budget Director. In this role, Arnie was responsible for developing and maintaining the operating budget for CPS, totaling more than $5 billion in spending annually. He also led an effort to drive evidence-based decision making across the entire District budget and he helped enhance school improvement plans to assist principals track progress and resource allocations toward school-based goals.
Arnie then spent two years as Deputy Chief of Staff in the CPS CEO’s office, where he was responsible for the planning and execution of the Full School Day outreach strategy and the expansion of the International Baccalaureate programs in Chicago’s high schools. He was also part of the district’s contract negotiations team that helped secure a collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Teacher’s Union in 2012.
Arnie left CPS and served as Chief Operating Officer for The Chicago Public Education Fund. In this role, Arnie was responsible for the organization's financial and operations management, as well as overseeing its communications and development strategies.
In 2014, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Education by Mayor Emanuel, where he coordinated the administration’s education policy agenda for the City of Chicago from early childhood through community college. Rivera returned to CPS in 2015 as Chief Officer of Public Policy.
Arnie earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Education and Social Policy, both from Northwestern University.
