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Celebrating Leaders Who Light the Way
Join us for the W!se Luminary Awards Luncheon to celebrate outstanding leaders and the powerful impact of our financial literacy and college and career readiness programs.
Honoring
Casey Cortese
Director, Charles Schwab Foundation (ret.)
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
11:30am - 1:30pm
Grand Ballroom of The Yale Club of New York City
50 Vanderbilt Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10017
Business Attire
Meet Our Honoree
Casey Cortese is a philanthropy strategist, nonprofit leader, and advocate for financial literacy. She has built partnerships among businesses, nonprofits, and communities to create lasting social impact. Her work has included corporate philanthropy, sponsorship, marketing, nonprofit leadership, event management, and financial education. Casey has held leadership roles with the Charles Schwab Foundation and Janus Foundation. She has also worked with national and global organizations including Junior Achievement USA, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, National 4-H Council, and Up with People. She is the first female chair of the national board of directors of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
Before retiring from full-time work at Charles Schwab, she led the firm's national philanthropic and community engagement efforts and oversaw Charles Schwab Foundation programming. In 2025, Girl Scouts of Colorado named her a Woman of Distinction for her contributions to the community and her work empowering women and girls. Today, through Cortese Consulting, she helps organizations and funders design philanthropic strategies that maximize impact. Outside of work, she is a traveler, runner, and dancer who completed the Triple 7 Quest, running seven half-marathons and one full marathon on seven continents in 12 consecutive days to benefit Girls on the Run of the Rockies.
Donate Now
Help our cause by contributing to our fundraising efforts.
No act of generosity is too small to make a difference.
Contributions of $500 or more will be listed in the event program. W!se is a 501c(3) organization. All contributions for this event are 100% tax deductible.
To make a gift of appreciated stock, please contact Lilai Teckie at [email protected].
ABOUT W!SE
For more than 27 years, Working in Support of Education (W!se) has worked to improve economic mobility by helping young people and at-risk adults develop the financial literacy and college and career readiness skills they need to succeed. Today, our programs have reached more than 1.5 million individuals and counting. Our success is made possible by our dedicated Board and Associate Board, exceptional staff, and a remarkable network of sponsors, donors, partners, educators, and volunteers.
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