Jane Borochoff
Borochoff is the founder and executive director of Educational Programs Inspiring Communities, a 15-year-old Houston-based nonprofit that serves adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. An energetic community volunteer and exceptional social connector, Jane is a graduate of the American Leadership Forum, Leadership Houston and the Center for Houston's Future. She is also a past chair and past president of the Texas Lyceum. A native of Brenham — where, she says, she ate Blue Bell Ice Cream nearly every day in school — she's an alumna of the University of Texas at Austin.
Glenn Brown
Brown has worked at the intersection of media, technology, and audience in a variety of companies and nonprofits: Creative Commons (CEO, Board of Directors), Google (Product Counsel), YouTube (Product Counsel, Head of U.S. Music Partnerships), Twitter (co-founder of Twitter Amplify video partnerships / product), betaworks (EIR), and, most recently, the Obama Foundation (Chief Digital Officer). He is a senior advisor at MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication and worked as a student, affiliate, and later a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Glenn grew up in Austin.
Trei Brundrett
Brundrett is the co-founder and former chief operating officer for Vox Media. He was instrumental in growing the company from a collection of sports blogs to a portfolio of over 10 trusted publications covering everything from technology, to culture, to politics, and restaurants. A veteran technology leader of several startups, Brundrett also led large-scale internet strategy, advertising and development projects for Fortune 500 companies, hospitals, advocacy groups and media clients. Trei is a seventh generation Texan who grew up helping to raise Beefmaster cattle in Kenedy, Texas and has lived in every major city in the state except for El Paso.
John Chao
Chao is an independent investor who most recently served as the chief operating officer of New York Public Radio. Previously, he was a partner in the strategy and corporate finance practice at McKinsey & Company, where he advised energy and commodity companies. A native of Houston, John has a degree in chemical engineering from Rice University and an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kyle Deaver
Kyle Deaver is an attorney and businessman active in the Waco, Texas community. He and his brother, John Deaver, are partners at the law firm Deaver and Deaver. He is also a director of American Bank in Waco and co-owner of American Guaranty Title. He served as Mayor of Waco from 2016 to 2020, following four years as a member of the Waco City Council. Kyle serves as president of the Waco Business League, chair of the City of Waco Tax Increment Funding Boards, on the Board of Regents for Baylor University, the board of StartUp Waco and the vestry of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church. His past board service includes the Waco Foundation, the Cameron Park Zoological Society, Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, Prosper Waco, Vanguard College Preparatory School, Saint Paul's Episcopal Day School and the Waco Plan Commission. Kyle holds business and law degrees from Baylor University. He is married to Diane Elliott Deaver, and they have two adult children--Nick and Morgan--and five grandchildren: Scottie, Dallas, Lee, Ellie and Ray.
Antonio Garza
Garza, is counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case, an international law firm. Mr. Garza acts as a strategic counselor to CEOs, investors and entrepreneurs and is a Director to a number publicly traded and privately held companies. Garza previously served as the US Ambassador to Mexico; was an elected member and chairman of the state’s energy regulating body, the Texas Railroad Commission; and was Texas' 99th Secretary of State. The Ambassador got his start in politics in the late 1980s as Cameron County judge — the youngest person ever to hold that post, and the first Republican since reconstruction to be elected to a countywide office in South Texas. A Brownsville native, he has an undergraduate degree from UT-Austin and a law degree from Southern Methodist University where he is currently a member of the University's Board of Trustees.
Josh Hunt
Josh Hunt is executive vice president and board member for Hunt Companies, Inc., headquartered in El Paso, Texas. Hunt is a diversified and international family-owned holding company that invests in real estate assets, infrastructure and real-asset focused operating businesses. He is president of the Hunt Family Foundation, and chair of MountainStar Sports Group, which owns several professional sports teams in the El Paso region.
Mr. Hunt serves on numerous civic, non-profit, and professional boards, including the Texas State History Museum Foundation, the Trellis Foundation, WestStar Bank, the Borderplex Alliance, Medical Center of the Americas Foundation (former Chair), and the Paso Del Norte Community Foundation. He is the founding chairman of La Nube (El Paso Children’s Museum and Science Center) and a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
Mr. Hunt has received numerous awards and honors, including being named El Pasoan of the Year by El Paso Inc. in 2014 and 2024, a shared honor, and being inducted into the El Paso Business Hall of Fame in 2019. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s degree in business and holds an MS degree from the Daniels School of Business at the University of Denver.
Larry Irving
Irving is the president and CEO of the Irving Group, a consulting firm providing strategic advice and assistance to international telecommunications and information technology companies, foundations and nonprofit organizations. He previously served as vice president for global government affairs for the Hewlett-Packard Company. In the Clinton Administration, he spent almost seven years as assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information and as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. A native of Queens, New York, he has a undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from Stanford University. In 2021, he was elected chair of the board of PBS.
Val LaMantia
Val LaMantia is recognized for her business leadership as partner of a family-owned beverage distribution company, her service to the McAllen community and her role as a founding member of the STARS Scholarship Fund. Since 2002, the Fund has awarded more than $41 million in scholarships, furthering education for nearly 20,000 students in South and West Texas.
A leading entrepreneur, community leader and philanthropist in the Rio Grande Valley, Val has been active in the Texas business community for over 35 years. She is the first woman to serve as a partner of L&F Distributors LLC and Favorite Brands. Both currently distribute throughout Texas and New Mexico and employ more than 1,400 employees across more than 170 counties.
She is a Trustee and Chair for the Center for Alcohol Policy, board member of the National & Texas Beer Wholesalers Associations, member of the governing boards of Driscoll Children’s Hospital and Texas 2036, and she serves on the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
A major supporter of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Val is a champion for improving quality of life through education. As chairperson of the Friends of Quinta Mazatlán Board of Directors, Val played a leadership role in creating new fundraising strategies for the $70 million development of the Center for Urban Ecology.
Val has received several prestigious accolades, including the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, McAllen Chamber Woman of the Year, Hispanic Chamber Businesswoman of the Year, South Texas Literacy Champion and recognition from Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas.
She is married to Dr. Guy Bailey, and together they have seven children and twelve grandchildren.
Elena M. Marks
Elena M. Marks is a Senior Fellow in Health at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Her work centers on improving health outcomes for all Texans, with an emphasis on people with low incomes and members of marginalized groups. Her areas of health policy expertise include health systems, health and health care finance, access to health care, health disparities, and the nonmedical drivers of health. She is the founder of the Texas Consortium for the Non-Medical Drivers of Health. From 2014 – 2022, Ms. Marks served as the Founding President and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation, a $1.3 billion philanthropy dedicated to improving health equity in Texas. Under her leadership, the foundation awarded over $400 million to nonprofits and governmental entities working to improve health outcomes.
Ms. Marks’ previous professional experiences include serving as the Director of Health and Environmental Policy for the City of Houston; consulting in the healthcare industry with large systems and community-based providers; starting and directing a successful legal placement firm; and practicing trial and appellate law with major law firms.
Ms. Marks holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory University, a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health.
Anna Mateja
Anna Mateja has over thirty years of industry experience in various areas of healthcare finance and accounting and is a licensed certified public accountant. Currently, Ms. Mateja is the chief financial officer of Community Health Choice, a health maintenance organization, licensed in twenty Texas counties, providing health coverage to approximately 425,000 members. A lifelong Texan, Mateja holds a Master of Business Administration degree and two undergraduate degrees from Texas A&M University.
Tracy LaQuey Parker
LaQuey Parker is Senior VP of Business Development for Parker Solutions Group and community volunteer who sits on the Advisory Council for the College of Natural Sciences and the UTeach Advisory Council at the University of Texas at Austin. She is Treasurer of the UT Foundation and board Chair for the Texas Foundation for Innovative Communities. Parker previously worked as founding director of the UTeach Institute at UT and in the chief technology office of Cisco Systems, where she founded the company’s Worldwide Education focus and its Advanced Internet Initiatives Team. Born in Newfoundland, Canada, Parker has an undergraduate degree in computer science from UT.
Jim Schachter
Schachter is president and chief executive officer of New Hampshire Public Radio, the state’s leading news organization and producer of acclaimed podcasts including Outside/In, Civics 101 and Bear Brook. He previously was vice president for news at WNYC, where his staff won Peabody, DuPont, Murrow and Polk awards. He spent nearly 17 years at The New York Times, rising to the position of associate managing editor. He has been a reporter or editor at the Los Angeles Times, The Kansas City Star and the Jacksonville (Fla.) Journal. A native of Glendale, Calif., Schachter has an undergraduate degree from Columbia University.
Matt Thompson
Thompson is an editor at The New York Times, leading the Headway initiative. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of the Center for Investigative Reporting. He previously served as the executive editor and deputy editor at The Atlantic, as the director of vertical initiatives for NPR, and as an editor and reporter at news organizations around the country, including the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the Fresno Bee. He also serves on the board of Capital B, as well as the steering committee for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. A native of Florida, he is a graduate of Harvard University.
Frank P. Ward III
Frank Ward is a Texas-based public affairs consultant and well-respected strategist with 20 years of combined experience in government, politics, and business. Frank's professional life has taken him from the RNC to The White House, Capitol Hill to the Export-Import Bank, the Texas Capitol to Public Strategies, Inc./H+K Strategies to The Mach 1 Group. After a 2018 run for Austin City Council, Frank founded his own consultancy, Forward Public Affairs. Before becoming a Founding Partner of the Poplar Group, a strategic consulting and advisory firm, Frank served as the Interim Executive Director of Communications and Director of Media Relations for the Texas Education Agency. Frank is a member of the Austin PBS Board of Directors, and an active Director of The Texas Lyceum. A member of the JoyRx Austin Leadership Council, Frank has helped raise significant funds for the mission delivery of the Children’s Cancer Association. Frank graduated from Denison University with a B.A. in English, and The Johns Hopkins University with a M.A. in Government. Frank, and his wife, Marion, are the proud parents of three fine Texans.
Sonya Medina Williams
Medina Williams is an international thought leader on diversity, social impact and sustainability who has spent her career mobilizing and empowering women and minorities as catalysts for change. She travels globally to speak about leadership, corporate governance and responsibility and advancing women’s political, social and economic participation. For seven years, she served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Projects to the First Lady. A trusted White House advisor, she developed policies in the areas of education, global health and the empowerment of women. A leading advocate for including more women and minorities on corporate boards and in high level positions within corporate and government realms, Medina Williams founded the Latina Leadership Institute. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University and received a Master of Public Health at Columbia University.