Fellows Spotlight
Born and raised in Nogales, Mexico, Juan Francisco Padrés crossed the border daily to attend school in the United States, a routine that shaped his perspective on opportunity and resilience. His parents later enrolled him at Culver Military Academy in Indiana, a decision made to give him a broader perspective. After graduating, Padrés returned to Arizona to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arizona.
Today, Padrés teaches sixth-grade world history at BASIS Tucson North. His journey to the classroom, however, was anything but linear. Over two decades, Padrés built a career that spanned entrepreneurship, finance, public service, and technology, each chapter marked by adaptability and commitment to serve his community.
Padrés began over two decades ago as an insurance agent with New York Life, before opening his own agency with Farmers Insurance during the housing boom. Success allowed him to branch out into the restaurant and bar industry, opening two locations in Tucson. But the Great Recession changed everything for Padrés, and he had to start over, a hardship Padrés has encountered many times. However, his optimistic perspective that, “as long as you’re alive, just get up and do it again,” allowed him to persevere.
Padrés saw an opportunity to begin again. While returning to his alma mater and earning an MBA from the Eller College of Management, Padrés worked for Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and the city of Tucson as an economic development and international trade specialist. After a few years in his new role, Padrés discovered the Flinn-Brown Fellowship, opening doors to leadership.
As a 2016 Fellow, Padrés transitioned from leading public affairs at TuSimple, an autonomous trucking company, to consulting and running an import business. But, when the pandemic disrupted both ventures, he pivoted again, this time toward education.
During the pandemic, Padrés also had two back-to-back campaigns, for Pima County supervisor in District 3 in 2020 and council member for Tucson’s Ward 3 in 2021 but lost in the primaries. Despite these moments of loss, Padrés now sees his campaigns as the launching point for his career in early childhood education. In 2022, he accepted a full-time position at BASIS Tucson North.
“What I saw during the pandemic was a tremendous lack of teachers,” he said. “I realized this was where I could make a difference. I was looking at this [as] an opportunity to really begin a new career, a new stage in life.”
Before his position at BASIS Tucson North, Padrés subbed for nine months in the Tucson Unified School District where his eyes were opened to the challenges faced in his community.
“When I ran for office, I knew we had challenges, but I didn’t even scratch the surface with the number of issues plaguing our community, and the number one issue is poverty. You see it firsthand with kids when you are in a classroom, talking to them, looking at their backgrounds and you start hearing their stories,” Padrés said.
Padrés describes meeting students whose parents have been deported, who are in dire financial need, may have one meal a day, and who have been taken out of school and put with child protective services. He believes Arizona’s greatest challenge and opportunity lies in bridging partisan divides. To build the bridge, leaders on both sides must first have important conversations to find a middle ground.
“We must open the channels of conversation because we all want the same thing. I can see 80% of people getting on board and working together towards the same goal as a state, as a city, as a community,” he said. “But we keep falling into that 20% of loud voices on the extreme ends of either side, and that’s all we hear, and all we see on social media and the news.”
The Flinn-Brown Network creates a space unlike others for Padrés, where statewide leaders can gather with the intent to enhance their local and statewide communities. To him, the Network provides opportunities for fostering conversations that are typically seen as challenging with depth, understanding, and support. He sees the Network made up of, “people who understand the issues and want to make a difference.”
As he shapes young minds, Padrés continues to dream big. “All I can do right now is give my time as a teacher,” he shared. “If I can change a few lives or influence a few kids to continue their path, then that’s what I see as putting my little pebble into the community for now.”
Currently, he’s planning a new business venture for next year and remains committed to civic engagement. Outside of his leadership, he remains passionate about starting the conversation on a state level to bridge the partisan divide.
Book Recommendation
“White Working Class” by Joan C. Williams talks about a lot of the issues of the white working class, which has been Republican for a while. It focuses on how a lot of the working class went from Democrat to Republican in a few short years. It gives you the perspective, as a Democrat, how do you recover from that?
I’m currently reading and almost at the end of what I thought was also a great book, “The Third Awokening” by Eric Kaufmann. It’s from a right-leaning position, but it makes a lot of sense and puts it in perspective.
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