Biography
John Pacheco Jr. lives in Minneapolis and represents District 5: in Hennepin County, the cities of Bloomington and Richfield; portions of the City of Edina, including the southern half of the city between I-494 and Minnesota Highway 62, and the northeastern quadrant of the city (just west of Minnesota Highway 100); and southwest corner of the city of Minneapolis: west of Lyndale Avenue, south of 42nd Street (east of Lake Harriet), south of Lake Harriet, and neighborhoods on the west side of Lake Harriet and south of 39th Street West. The district also includes the unorganized territory around Fort Snelling.
Pacheco is the president and founder of the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota, and a principal with Pacheco & Associates. In these roles, he works with nonprofits to develop workforce initiatives that help close employment and training gaps for communities of color and Indigenous communities.
He coordinated workforce initiatives for Workforce Next, a collaboration among the largest nonprofit organizations established by and for communities of color in Minnesota. Partners include Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), Hmong American Partnership, American Indian OIC, Northwest Indian OIC, Summit Academy OIC, Urban League, and the Center for Asian and Pacific Islanders.
Pacheco serves on the boards of the Latino Economic Development Center, the Minneapolis Workforce Development Board, and the executive committee of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce.
He has also served as a director for the U.S. Bank Foundation and the Xcel Energy Foundation, as well as a manager for Northern States Power Company. He was the vice chair on the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which was the governing board for the former Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Pacheco studied at the University of Minnesota and is a former machinist.