Dr. Amilcar Guzman: Shaping Policy, Philanthropy, and Latino Civic Leadership

Title: Program Officer, Ph.D.   

Organization: JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation

Age: 39

Dr. Amilcar Guzman serves as Program Officer with the Pritzker Children’s Initiative within the JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation. In this role, he manages a portfolio of national grants and initiatives focused on ensuring that early childhood and food systems meet the needs of families with young children.

Dr. Guzman is deeply committed to public service. In the Chicago area, he has been a member of Chicago Latines in Philanthropy, a Mentor for Braven, and an inaugural member of the University of Chicago’s Civic Leadership Academy Alumni Board. Amilcar also serves as a Strategic Advisor for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Alumni Association’s Chicago Chapter. Amilcar has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the American University School of Education. Earlier in his career, Amilcar served as the National Alumni Association President and Board Member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Guzman holds both a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park, and graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA. In 2020, his dissertation, Uncovering Typologies of Civically Engaged Latino/a College Graduates, was recognized as one of the most outstanding in the country by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education.

Dr. Guzman has completed domestic fellowships with the University of Chicago’s Civic Leadership Academy, the Aspen Ideas Festival, New Leaders Council, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He has completed international fellowships with the United States-Spain Council (Spain), Center for American Progress (Mexico) the KAKEHASHI program (Japan) and Partners of the Americas (Paraguay). In 2025, Dr. Guzman was 1 of 10 Americans selected as an Eisenhower Fellow to participate in an immersive global Fellowship in China.