Background:
Alex Cortez is a partner with Bellwether in the Strategic Advising practice area.
Alex has 20 years of experience working in education and social change as a consultant, a school operator, and in philanthropy. He has deep expertise in helping organizations scale a combination of their direct impact by serving beneficiaries; their widespread impact by building the capacity of partners to replicate their model; and their systemic impact by shifting mindsets, relationships, and power to in turn shift policies, practices, and resource flows. His clients at Bellwether include organizations providing workforce programming, evaluation and technical assistance in deploying workforce data systems, postsecondary advising organizations, philanthropies, place-based education program and advocacy organizations, and after-school program providers.
While at Bellwether, Alex has led a range of published projects on how to create more equitable and effective postsecondary pathways, how organizations can scale through direct, widespread, and systemic impact, and how parent power organizations scale.
Prior toBellwether, Alex was a managing partner with New Profit, where he focused on funding and advising nonprofits growing their impact in K-12, postsecondary pathways, and parent power and systems change. Alex formerly served as a regional director of growth and sustainability at the KIPP Foundation and as chief of staff, strategy, and execution with KIPP Houston Public Schools. He began his career in for-profit consulting and then nonprofit consulting as a manager with The Bridgespan Group, where he worked on projects related to K-12 and higher education innovations, youth and adult workforce development, philanthropy, the environment, and aging.
Alex serves on the boards of multiple educational organizations and serves his community as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. He has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and an MPA and an MBA with honors from Harvard University. Raised in New Orleans, Alex currently resides in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Why I do this work:
Being from New Orleans, I have seen the power of education entrepreneurs to transform failing school systems, and the need for this to happen not only to create equitable education outcomes and economic freedom, but also to dismantle undemocratic systems of power.
Experience at Bellwether:
Strategic Planning; Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis; Business Plan Development; Growth and Expansion Strategy; Human Capital/Organizational Design; Performance Improvement/Sustainability; Performance Metrics; Grant Development and Implementation; Financial Analysis and Modeling; Implementation Planning; Project Management; CMO/Charter School Operators; Foundations; Philanthropic Strategy
Client segments served:
K-12 Schools; Postsecondary/Higher Education; CMO Charter Schools; Foundations and Grantees; Nonprofit Organizations
Contact Information
Follow Me
Connect on LinkedIn
Connect on Twitter
Issue Expertise
Charter Schools
Innovation and Personalized Learning
Urban Education
