Dr. Alise Cortez is a Purpose/Engagement Catalyst, Speaker, Consultant, Researcher, Published Author, and Radio Show / Podcast Host based in Dallas, Texas. Her career in Human Capital / Organizational Excellence spans more than 20 years. Today she and her team are focused on helping companies, leaders, and individuals across the globe to cultivate meaning and purpose in their leadership and work to achieve greater fulfillment, higher engagement, more impactful results, and harmonic work-life integration. She is a sought-after speaker, and consults with organizations to increase employee engagement, improve performance, and develop purpose-driven culture and leadership.

Alise began her human capital career in 1998 as a staffing professional at Analysts International, corporate recruitment consulting at VoiceStream/T-Mobile, and HR System implementation and change management consulting at Hewitt Associates and PepsiCo. She co-founded and served as VP of Sales & Marketing at Improved Experience, a consulting firm that offered online feedback solutions and research for the Human Resource and Recruiting industry. For more than a decade since, she has been focused on igniting meaningful development that increases employee engagement, inspired performance, leadership effectiveness, and retention within organizations

After completing a Bachelors in Liberal Studies and a Masters in Liberal Studies (focusing on International Relations with South America), Alise earned a PhD in Human Development from Fielding Graduate University.  Fascinated with how people choose and experience their careers, she focused her dissertation on meaning in work and its relationship to personal identity.  Today, she is writing a book about her extended post-doctoral research that yielded 15 “Modes of Engagement,” a deep inquiry into how 115 people aged 18 to 80 from multiple industries experience meaning in their work in relation to their identity.

Alise also serves as Adjunct Faculty at Southern Methodist University in the Communications Department and does so in part to stay connected to the Millennial generation to help them and their first employers effectively interface with each other. She has lived in Spain and Brazil, and traveled extensively across Western Europe, South America, and parts of Asia and Oceania. She is conversationally comfortable in Spanish and Portuguese and has some language ability in French and Italian.

Alise is a Humanistic/Positivist psychology-educated professional and strives to catalyze individuals’ inherent drive toward self-actualization and expression of their unique capabilities and creativity. She is constantly working to awaken and realize her own potential and absolutely delights in guiding and inspiring clients to do the same. She endeavors to enjoy a full life with frequent travel outside the US, hosting numerous and large gatherings with good food and beverage, and being an active leader in her Dallas community.  Alise has served on the following Boards in Dallas: YMCA at White Rock (past Chairman of the Board), Lakewood Service League (past President and fundraising Event Chair), Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation (past Needs Assessment Chair), Dallas Staffing Association (past VP of Professional Development and Diversity), and the Dallas Running Club (past Co-Race Director).

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Alise Cortez PhD

Alise facilitating a Strengths workshop with college students in Madurai, India December 2014.