Pilar O’Leary

Founder and President @ PFO Advisory Group

Pilar Frank O’Leary is Founder and President of PFO Advisory Group, a consulting practice which advises organizations on their policy, partnership and strategic business needs in Latin America, the U.S. and other countries. She has over 20 years experience working on Latin America and international initiatives at Fortune 100 companies and other leading institutions. A native Washingtonian and of Colombian-American heritage, Pilar is completely bi-cultural and fluent in English, Spanish and French and proficient in Portuguese and Italian.

Most recently, Pilar has served as a senior advisor on Latin America and international initiatives for organizations such as Facebook, The Coca-Cola Company, Blackboard, Enterprise Holdings/Rent-A-Car, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Edens, OutsideGC, The International Women’s Media Foundation and others. She helped organize the 2016 official visit of President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos to the White House and advised the Embassy of Colombia and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the establishment of the US-Colombia Business Advisory Council. Throughout her career, Pilar’s passion has been to create meaningful and productive partnerships between the U.S., Latin America and other countries.

Pilar is a graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to establishing PFO Advisory Group, she worked as a corporate lawyer and business executive at leading organizations, focused primarily on business and partnership development in Latin America, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Fannie Mae and the Smithsonian.

Additionally, Pilar is co-founder of Isabella & Ferdinand Academia de Español, a nonprofit Spanish learning program for children in the Washington DC and Miami areas and is co-producer of “The Accordion Kings: The Story of Colombian Vallenato Music”, an award-winning documentary film for the Smithsonian Channel of Showtime Television featuring Colombian Grammy-award-winning music artist Carlos Vives.

Pilar is involved in a number of charitable organizations supporting the arts, education and international causes. She is the co-founder of The Latino Dance Fund at The Washington Ballet and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Imagination Stage and Isabella & Ferdinand as well as the Meridian Global Council. She is a long-standing supporter of Meridian International Center, Catholic Charities, Give to Colombia, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts and the Marina Orth Foundation. Previously, Pilar served on the Board of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Transformer. She is a member of the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance and Pi Delta Phi, the national French honor society.
Pilar has been a frequent speaker on Latin America issues and has been profiled in numerous publications for her work in supporting the Hispanic community. Recognitions include “2006 Influentials: Ten to Watch” (Hispanic Business Magazine); “15 Phenomenal Latinas of 2006” (Latina Magazine); “2006 Triunfadores” (Telemundo); “Han Triunfado” (Vanidades); 2006 “Substance & Style” Awardee (Washington Life Magazine). She also served as the commencement speaker for the New World School of the Arts in Miami (2008).