| | Cortes is of [[Colombia]]n descent. His father left [[Colombia]] to attend graduate school at the private Indiana Institute of Technology, in Fort Wayne, [[Indiana]]. He was reared on the South Side of Chicago. In 1994, Cortes graduated from [[George Washington University]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], at which he played [[football]] and was nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship. After college, he sold government bonds through Prudent Financial, Inc. Then he established his own company, VeraCruz, LLC , which offers [[real estate]] market research. In 2001, he published a book on investments entitled, "Against the Herd: 6 Contrarian Investment Strategies You Should Follow.''<ref name=scortes/> | | Cortes is of [[Colombia]]n descent. His father left [[Colombia]] to attend graduate school at the private Indiana Institute of Technology, in Fort Wayne, [[Indiana]]. He was reared on the South Side of Chicago. In 1994, Cortes graduated from [[George Washington University]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], at which he played [[football]] and was nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship. After college, he sold government bonds through Prudent Financial, Inc. Then he established his own company, VeraCruz, LLC , which offers [[real estate]] market research. In 2001, he published a book on investments entitled, "Against the Herd: 6 Contrarian Investment Strategies You Should Follow.''<ref name=scortes/> |