Gloria Rubio-CortésPresident, National Civic League
Gloria Rubio-CortÈs is the President of the National Civic League, a 113-year old organization committed to strengthening democracy at the local level by transforming communities and institutions. She is the first woman and person of color to lead this organization that connects people to each other and to their government for positive social change. She returned to Denver and the National Civic League in 2007. From 1992 to 2000, she served in a variety of senior management positions including Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. NCL is good at the science of government, the art of public engagement, and the glory of what can happen when people work together. NCL is the home of the All-America City Awards and the MetLife Foundation's Ambassador in Education Awards. Its best selling publications are The 8th Edition of the Model City Charter, The Civic Index, and the quarterly journal, The National Civic Review. NCL is well known for its facilitation of inclusive, collaborative, consensus-based strategic planning and visioning in communities across the country. NCL helps local communities to plan for the future and address complex issues including immigration integration and anti-bullying at the K-12 educational levels. Prior to NCL, Ms. Rubio-Cortes held senior management positions at the Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC) and Levi Strauss Foundation. At CTFC, she was Director of Partnerships, Vice President for External Relations, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Senior Program Officer. CTFC is an innovative public foundation helping all Californians benefit from new information and communications technology, particularly underserved populations. As senior manager at the Levi Strauss Foundation and Levi Strauss Company, Ms. Rubio-Cortes was in charge of U.S. national grants and contributions and managed many operations for this worldwide grants program. At the April 2004, Council on Foundation's Annual Conference, Ms. Rubio-CortÈs received the Disability Funders Network's William Diaz Impact Award, Grantmaker of the Year. A Colorado native, she has more than 25 years of nonprofit experience working at the national level in Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. During her career, Gloria has promoted good government, civil rights, community building, civic engagement and social justice issues at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and National Council of La Raza. She held positions in development, communications, program development and implementation, management, and organizational operations. She serves as Board Chair of the National Center for Community Education and on the Council on Foundations' Film and Video Festival Awards committee (2004-2007). Ms. Rubio-Cortes has served on a variety of boards and committees: She is co-author of The Civic Index: Measuring Your Community's Civic Health, 2nd ed. (Denver: National Civic League, 1999) and "Questions to Ask: Components of the Civic Index," National Civic Review 88 (Winter 1999): 271-292. She has an M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (1978) and a B.S. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in Journalism (1977). |
