Richard Bort has been a member of Valley VOTE since 2002, and currently serves as Secretary, director, and chair of the Financial Issues Committee. He has taken the lead in developing Valley VOTE's position and landmark white paper on reform of the city's business tax, Valley VOTE's position on cable television franchise reform, and numerous other issues.

Richard Bort is a retired independent financial consultant to business specializing in treasury management and electronic commerce technologies, in private practice for 20 years. Previously, he was the corporate treasury manager of several large companies, including Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Computer Sciences Corporation. He preceded that with deep experience in commercial banking, as a lender to commercial and industrial clients in New York at Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank), and as the VP and western regional sales manager for operating services and cash management products for Wells Fargo Bank in Los Angeles.

Mr. Bort is the author of two professional books, the Corporate Cash Management Handbook and the Handbook of EDI, both of which are the definitive publications in their respective fields. In addition, he was Course Leader/Instructor for numerous cash and treasury management programs including the University of California at Berkeley's Cash Management Program, American Management Association, the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants, and other professional organizations. Also, Bort has had numerous articles published on treasury management, investing, and electronic commerce, and he founded and was the executive editor of the Journal of Working Capital Management and the editor/publisher of the EC/EDI Payments Monitor.

He is a former director and past president of the Southern California Association for Financial Professionals; he is a co-founder and director of the Southern California e-Business Forum, an electronic commerce users group; and he was an active member of the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee X12, Finance Subcommittee, for more than 12 years where he actively participated in the design and maintenance of electronic data interchange standards for financial transactions.

Mr. Bort is a graduate of Colgate University, having graduated with honors in economics, and he holds an MBA degree in Banking and Finance from New York University.