Marco Grimaldo

Marco A. Grimaldo has long adhered to the personal motto, “be of good service.” He grew up in the Spanish-speaking Presbyterian Churches of Central and South Texas where service to family and community was always stressed.  Marco remains fiercely Tejano.  Born and raised in New Braunfels, Texas, Marco is the son of Pedro and Ruth Grimaldo and brother to Rebecca.  His dad, Pedro, worked for non-profit groups, mostly for Southside Community Center to provide housing and help to low-income families in Central and South Texas.  Ruth was first Deputy County Clerk and later court administrator for a state district judge. Together they raised a family of Presbyterian Chicano activists.   

Marco attended Southwest Texas State University for his undergraduate degree in political science and later attended the Georgetown Public Policy Institute which brought him to Washington, D.C.  He worked briefly for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and went on to serve as a consultant on policy and political organizing to clients, mainly churches and charitable groups.

In 1996, Marco began working with Bread for the World advocating for an end to hunger as a consultant and that relationship has grown into a long-standing partnership. Marco started off in the Organizing Department but over the years he has served as Director of Bread for the World Institute and the founding director of the Alliance to End Hunger. From 2012 through 2015, Marco took a break from Bread to become the President and CEO of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, a statewide interfaith group that equips faithful Virginians to lobby the Virginia General Assembly and the Virginia delegation in Congress on issues of hunger, poverty and inequality.  Following that, Marco returned to Bread for the World and currently serves as Deputy Director of Church Relations and Senior Associate for Latino Engagement. 

Marco Grimaldo has more than 25 years of experience in politics and non-profit advocacy, including work on national campaigns related to international development assistance, HIV/AIDS, debt relief and domestic hunger and poverty concerns. As a queer Latino in the church, Marco has worked to bridge the gap between people’s expectations and assumptions of who we are as LGBTQ people and the reality of our lives and ministries.  Marco previously served on the board of More Light Presbyterians, the Presbyterian AIDS Network, NGLTF’s Religious Leadership Roundtable and co-chaired Witness Our Welcome 2003.  Marco is an ordained ruling elder who attends Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C.

(This biographical statement provided by Marco Grimaldo.)

Biography Date: October 2017

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