Dr. Ernesto Matias is a strong instructional and cultural leader with a solid record of improving student outcomes. He started his professional teaching career in Montana as a social studies educator at Lustre High School from 1990 to 1993. He then moved to Evansville, Indiana, in 1994 to teach social studies at Bosse High School. His willingness to embrace change, guide, and inspire others led him to be nominated for District Teacher of the Year during his time there. He returned in 1997 to his hometown of Chicago, where he taught at Moos Elementary School until 2002. While teaching at Moos Elementary, he was nominated for the 1999 Golden Apple Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Matias left Moos Elementary to become the assistant principal at Kanoon Magnet Elementary School from 2002 to 2008. While at Kanoon, he received the Associated Colleges of Illinois Shining Example of Liberal Arts for Leadership award. Dr. Matias was also awarded the Arne Duncan Award for Educational Equity in 2009.

Dr. Matias moved on to become the principal of Wells Community Academy in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) from 2008 to 2013. He mentored four resident principals during his tenure there and successfully transformed the professional culture through school-based and team-led professional development. After serving as deputy chief of schools for the CPS Office of Strategic School Support Services, Dr. Matias was promoted to chief of Network 4 in 2014. He served there for three years before being named academic chief of the CPS Office of Language and Cultural Education, where he was responsible for supporting more than 70,000 English Learners. Dr. Matias was named to the 2018 Cohort of the McCormick Foundation Executive Fellows program. Ernesto was nominated and accepted in the Inaugural Chicago City Council Latino Caucus Leadership Class Fellows. He started his latest adventure on July 1, 2019, when he became the Education Officer for the Illinois State Board of Education, which serves more than 2 million students in 852 districts throughout the State of Illinois.