Pedro Cortés
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pedro A. Cortés is the current Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[edit] Early life and education
Cortés was born in Puerto Rico. He received his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Massachusetts, a Master of Public Administration from Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctor from Penn State Dickinson School of Law.
[edit] Career
Governor Ed Rendell, a close ally, appointed Cortés as state secretary of state on April 2, 2003. Confirmed unanimously by the Pennsylvania Senate, Cortés beame the first Puerto Rican member of the Pennsylvania Cabinet and the highest state-level official in the United States outside of Puerto Rico.
Cortés is married to Lissette Lizardi Cortés.
He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Finance and Revenue, the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement Board, the Board of Property, the State Athletic Commission and the Navigation Commission for the Delaware River and its Navigable Tributaries. As many other Secretaries of State, he also serves as the chief election official. Previously, Cortés has served on the Commonwealth's State Civil Service Commission and the Department of Public Welfare, as well as executive director of the Governor's Latino Affairs Advisory Commission
Cortés has served as treasurer of the National Association of Secretaries of State and will become NASS president in July 2008, the first Hispanic to hold that position. In 2004, Cortés was selected to participate in Council of State Governments Henry Toll Fellows Program and was elected by his peers as Class Representative.
Cortés maintains close ties to Hispanic and Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania as well as Puerto Rico. On March 2, 2007, Puerto Rico Senate President and former CSG chair Kenneth McClintock welcomed Cortés as the keynote speaker at the special session marking the 90th anniversary of the concession of United States citizenship to Puerto Ricans and of the creation of the Senate of Puerto Rico.
