Rita M. CortÉs
About Rita M. Cortés
Elected in April 2019, Rita is a long-time resident of Kansas City Public Schools Sub-district 1 which covers the southwest corridor of Kansas City including Coleman Highlands, Roanoke, Valentine, Volker, Westport, the Plaza, Sunset Hill, Brookside and Waldo. Fundamentally, Rita believes that every child in Kansas City deserves access to, support toward and completion of a quality preK-12 education. She seeks to serve the students and all constituents of KCPS in ensuring that objective is achieved.
Rita serves 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. Prior to Menorah Heritage, Rita was a shareholder in the corporate practice group of law firm Seigfreid Bingham, P.C. and for nearly 20 years served as the chief executive officer of Hoffman Cortes Contracting Company, a local commercial construction firm. Rita’s education includes a B.A. (Political Science) from Rice University; a J.D. (with honors) from the George Washington University Law School; and an LL.M. in Taxation from UMKC. She has been long active in the civic and business community, serving on a wide variety of non-profit boards and professional organizations in construction, education, health care, social justice and in the Jewish community over the past 25 years.