The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Dominican University

University of Pittsburgh

St. Joseph's Prep

John Cabot University

Leadership Greater Chicago

2024 Signature Fellow

Skills: Strategic Initiatives · Organizational Theory · Confidentiality · Government Contracts · Presentations · Stakeholder Management · Project Management · Briefing · Strategic Planning · Team Cohesion

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago

Executive Director - Strategic Initiatives

The Tarrson Fund is where impact investors at Booth get their start. We invest in early-stage mission-oriented startups that generate impact and financial returns.

Steven Tarrson Impact Investment Fund

Co-founder | Scout

• Lead strategic communications, marketing, public policy, and community engagement for non-profit public-school system serving 12,500 students with 1,500 staff and $190 million annual budget.
• Responsible for crisis management, relationships with press, elected officials, and district authorizer.
• Lead speechwriting, op-ed drafting, and talking point creation for senior leaders.
• Manage 11 direct and indirect reports on communications & marketing and government & community
affairs teams

Noble Schools

Chief of Public Affairs

Neubauer Civic Scholar

• Led intentionally equitable and inclusive strategic planning process for the development of 5-year plan for organization, drawing on diversity of input from thousands of Noble stakeholders.
• Led cross-functional initiatives and executive decision-making processes alongside President and CEO.
• Managed Government and Community Affairs team including six direct and indirect reports.

Chief of Staff

• Developed and led comprehensive strategy for state and local policy and advocacy
• Directly lobbied members of legislature, managed roll calls, and navigated committee process which resulted in passage of bill to extend high performing charter renewal terms among other policy wins.
• Managed five direct reports through turnaround and expansion of grassroots community organizing and engagement team including revising management structure, implementing accountability systems, and creating/maintaining Salesforce database to meet strategic goals.
• Active part of a coalition that passed SB1947 which resulted in more equitable funding for public school students in Illinois – including an estimated $37 million increase for students in charter schools.
• Secured approval from Chicago Public Schools board to open Mansueto High School, navigated city council zoning process to build $20 million facility despite significant, well-organized opposition.

Director of Government and Community Affairs

Appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to serve as part of bipartisan board, which oversees and promotes service and volunteerism in Illinois; member of resource development subcommittee.

Serve Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service

Commissioner

•	Managed portfolio of 658 alumni at more than 100 colleges using Salesforce to increase persistence and career prospects via campus events, connection to university resources, and relationship building.
•	Managed and disbursed $20,000 budget for scholarships and alumni events.
•	Led parent engagement for school with 923 students, including creation of Parent Advisory Council.
•	Developed social media channels for student and alumni engagement with average weekly reach of more than 7,000 across Facebook and Twitter, and a MailChimp newsletter with more than 3,000 subscribers.
•	Maintained Pritzker website driving more than 60% growth in unique traffic.
•	Created systems to manage and encourage ed tech use for 90 staff and 950 students including Google Apps for Education, Chromebooks, laptop carts, and iPads while supervising IT support staff.

Director of Alumni Affairs & Technology Integration

•	Attended Aspen Institute convening to provide guidance to Denver and Washington DC Public Schools on teacher leadership pathways, quoted in policy report on teacher leadership.
•	Published op-ed in Hechinger Report on collaborative approach to education policy.
•	Presented a TEDx talk on using ed tech to connect classroom and community through volunteerism.
•	Worked with network of 25 Chicago Public School charter and district teachers to elevate teacher voice in education policy.

Teach Plus

Policy Fellow

•	Worked in the office of the General Counsel in the Illinois State Board of Education on issues regarding charter schools in Illinois.
•	Rewrote charter school accountability form to expand data collected during biannual audits, including information on school finances, funding streams, teacher retention, student discipline and retention policies etc.

Illinois State Board of Education

Leadership for Educational Equity Summer Policy Fellow

•	Led professional development for AP World History teachers in Chicago’s highest performing charter network, created College Board-aligned interim assessments and shared data analysis (2012-2014).
•	Led students to Noble network-record passing rates on AP World History Exam 
•	Set campus record for PLAN Reading growth for three years, culminating in average 2.62 points growth.
•	Built partnership with non-profit 826 Chicago to enlist more than 100 volunteers in weekly writing support for students through GoogleDocs, Pearson OpenClass and 1:1 iPad program.
•	Led 16 teachers on sophomore instructional team in bi-monthly meetings focused on staff and student cultural alignment as well as data-driven student progress monitoring.
•	Wrote grants securing more than $8,300 in funding for classroom projects and student summer camps.

Varsity Ultimate Coach (2010-present)
•	Built a program which employs seven coaches and has taught the game to hundreds of students across varsity and JV
•	Coached team to 2nd place finish in the city of Chicago in 2012 and 2013
•	Attended USA Ultimate Central championships in Cincinnati (2013) and Ames, IA (2014)
•	Selected as USA Ultimate Coach of the Year for Illinois in 2013

Grade Level Lead & World History Teacher

•	Nominated by President Barack Obama in 2010 to serve on board for federal agency with $1.6 billion budget, unanimously confirmed by U.S. Senate after navigating congressional and White House vetting process.
•	Provided feedback on high-level policy in concert with White House advisors, engaged with Office of Inspector General on issues of accountability and oversight, spoke at multiple public events.
•	Worked with leaders from across non-profit sector to leverage resources and expand service, e.g. Points of Light Foundation, Citi Foundation, The Franklin Project at the Aspen Institute, Cities of Service.

AmeriCorps

Member Board of Directors (U.S. Senate Confirmed)

•	Managed interview coordination and hiring process for more than 100 Teach For America Corps Members as part of regional strategy team.
•	Built relationships with principals and hiring managers across city of Chicago.

Teach For America

Placement Fellow

•	Taught 3rd grade self-contained class at neighborhood Chicago Public School in Edgewater.
•	Led students to 1.5 years of growth in reading in less than one year at a neighborhood Chicago Public School where 90 percent of students received free or reduced lunch, in a class with significant ELL student population from eight different countries – many from immigrant and refugee backgrounds.

Chicago Public Schools

Teacher, Swift Elementary

•	AmeriCorps member in Illinois alternative certification program, endorsed in Social Sciences and English Language Arts.
•	Participated in intensive professional development workshops relating to pedagogy and systemic school reform.
•	Member of Corps Member Leadership Development Committee which managed relationships with donors and supporters and facilitated the annual gala.

Corps Member

•	Communicated with constituents on current legislation and federal policy from district office via phone, mail and personal contact.
•	Drafted memos to embassies and other governmental officials.
•	Monitored press developments in western Pa. counties and research legislative databases for policy information.

United States Senate

Intern, Sen. Bob Casey - Pa

•	Organized Clinton-stronghold and McCain target Lackawanna County to meet team building and voter contact goals. Culminated in GOTV weekend with more than 50,000 door knocks, 12,000 phone calls, and 300 active volunteers per day.
•	Won 63 percent of the vote in Lackawanna County – an 8 point increase from 2004 and the second highest win percentage in the state (after only Philadelphia county). 
•	Registered more than 2,500 new voters (predominantly on three college campuses) and achieved an 80 percent turnout rate in those precincts.
•	Part of a team that won Pennsylvania 55 to 44 percent, the largest democratic  margin since 1964.

Volunteer March-May 2008 in Pittsburgh, PA for primary --> Intern/fellow May-July in West Virginia for primary --> Field organizer July-November 2008

Obama for America

Field Organizer 

•	Managed staff of more than 100 employees for the production of a daily newspaper with a business-daily circulation of 14,000.
•	Designed and implemented a redesign of both print and online brand presences – including implementation of new color schemes, reworking of logo and general functionality improvements.

Matthew McCabe