Membership
Odgers Berndtson Continues to Grow its North American Education Practice
Odgers Berndtson is thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Dario Cortes as Partner and Co-Head, Education Practice. Based in the United States, Dr. Cortes will partner with clients to secure exceptional leadership talent for critical roles across education.
Dr. Dario Cortes is a forward-thinking leader with sharp business acumen and talent for implementing new structures to enhance organizational operating efficiencies and increase enrollment and revenues in a fiscally responsible manner. He has exceptional relationship-building skills and has cultivated private, business, community, government, and global partnerships to achieve fundraising goals and institutional objectives.
Prior to joining Odgers Berndtson, Dr. Cortes was elected to serve as Commissioner of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) and worked as a Senior Consultant with the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) in Washington, DC. He has served as President of Berkeley College, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at Miami Regional University, Vice-President of Academic Affairs at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) SUNY, Dean at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Senior Program Officer at the National Foreign Language Center at The Johns Hopkins University, SAIS. He also taught at North Carolina State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Cortes earned his BA degree from Queens College (CUNY), his MA from the University of Virginia and his PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His commitment to professional development is evident in his postdoctoral work at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he was a Klingenstein Visiting Fellow, and at Harvard University's Institute of Education Management. He further honed his skills as an American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Our education clients invest in senior talent with the expertise and experience to manage institutional and social tensions, evolving fiscal circumstances, and an urgent need to drive impactful innovation,” said Kennon Kincaid, Chief Executive Officer, Odgers Berndtson USA. “Dr. Cortes possesses unparalleled first-hand experience as an academic and business leader. Welcoming him to our team will ensure we continue to deliver talent that can exceed our clients’ needs and affirm our position as a global leader in senior recruitment for the educational sector.”
“Throughout my career I have seen many changes across all areas of education. In this next phase of my career, I look forward to leveraging Odgers Berndtson’s integrated leadership capabilities and scale to place talent that will continue to influence positive change and innovation within the institutions they lead as well as the communities in which they serve,” commented Dr. Cortes.
