July 17, 2025
This week's speaker is Rita Cortes, KC Public Schools School Board Member.
For the past 10 years, Rita has served as the executive director of the Menorah Heritage Foundation. Her role is to guide the Foundation, in partnership with the Foundation Board, toward achieving its vision through grantmaking and resource stewardship. That vision reflects the Foundation’s Jewish communal and health care roots: “The Menorah Heritage Foundation, inspired by Jewish values, strategically supports organizations and initiatives that significantly improve the health and well-being of the greater Kansas City community.” Rita and her team at the Foundation support the grantmaking, investment, finance and other functions of the organization.
Rita’s prior Kansas City professional experience includes practicing law with Seigfreid Bingham, P.C., where she was a shareholder in the corporate and tax practice, and owning a commercial construction company, Hoffman Cortes Contracting Company, which she served nearly 20 years as president and CEO. Prior to returning to Kansas City, Rita practiced law in the Washington DC area. She also worked on Capitol Hill on the legislative staff of Sen. Jack Danforth.
Rita’s community involvement includes prior and current board service and leadership roles with a broad range of organizations in the greater Kansas City business, civic and Jewish communities. She was elected to the Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) Board of Directors in 2019 and currently serves as the KCPS Board Chair. In addition, Rita is a mentor in the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP) and tutors B’nai Mitzvah students for Congregation Beth Shalom, where she is an active member. She also spent many years coaching high school and youth girls’ basketball in both Kansas City and the Washington DC area, after playing at Rice University. In her education journey Rita received her undergraduate degree from Rice University, her law degree from George Washington University and an LLM in Taxation from UMKC.
