Board of Directors

Why I joined the Commit Board: “Commit grasps the fundamental challenges in our education system and the power of data to drive positive change in society. It is exciting to be part of an organization that doesn’t shy away from setting big goals and building the community to see them through.”

‍

As assistant vice president of social innovation and president of the AT&T Foundation, Nicole Anderson oversees AT&T’s philanthropic initiatives, including AT&T Aspire–a $400 million commitment to drive innovation in education by accelerating the learning revolution and connecting it to the young people who need it most.

Anderson manages a diverse programmatic and philanthropic portfolio that includes the Aspire Accelerator, an incubator supporting ed-tech entrepreneurs, and the Connect to Success competitive grant program that funds nonprofits implementing best-in-class evidenced-based interventions that keep underserved students on track to high school graduation and beyond. She began her career at AT&T as part of its leadership development program and joined the corporate social responsibility team in 2009.

Anderson’s commitment to finding new solutions for social issues started at an early age watching her father design affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area and accompanying him to community meetings. She joined a Congressional campaign soon after college that took her from her native Bay Area to Washington, DC. After working on the Hill as a legislative analyst handling issues from education to telecommunications, she took her experience to the University of California’s Federal Relations office and next, to AT&T

Anderson serves on the board of America’s Promise Alliance and the Dallas Zoological Society. She was recently asked to join the board of the Commit Partnership, an organization to drive student achievement throughout Dallas County by leveraging data and community expertise. Anderson holds a B.A. in political science from UC San Diego, and an M.B.A. from UT Austin.

Peter S. Brodsky is an investor and business executive who, through a majority-owned company, owns the Shops at RedBird (formerly known as Southwest Center Mall and, prior to that, Red Bird Mall). He is investing in the property to restore it to a place of pride and quality in the community.

Prior to acquiring RedBird, Peter was a founder and partner of HBC Investments LLC, a firm focused on investing both third party capital and the capital of its principals in growth[1]oriented companies. Prior to co-founding HBC, Peter was a partner at the private equity firm of HM Capital Partners and its predecessor, Hicks Muse, where he was employed for over 15 years. At HM Capital, Peter focused on the media industry, was responsible for deploying or managing over $2.6 billion of equity investments, and completed over 100 transactions.

In the civic and non-profit arenas, Peter serves as the Board Chair of Housing Forward (formerly Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance), the lead agency of Dallas and Collin Counties’ homeless response system. Peter also serves on the Board of KIPP Texas Public Schools, a network of 59 public charter schools with nearly 34,000 preK-12 students in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, as well as the Advisory Board of KIPP Texas – Dallas-Fort Worth, which he chaired from January 2011 through June 2017. In addition, Peter serves on the Board of the Trinity Park Conservancy, the President’s Advisory Board of UT Southwestern Medical Center, SMU Tate Lecture Series Board, and the Dallas Assembly. Formerly, Peter has served on the following Boards: City of Dallas’s Animal Advisory Commission (Chair), which advises Dallas Animal Services, the city animal shelter and control service provider, where he focused on the loose dog crisis in southern Dallas; North Texas Public Broadcasting, the owner and operator of Dallas-Fort Worth’s PBS and NPR affiliates; AT&T Performing Arts Center; Vogel Alcove; Dallas Symphony Orchestra; and Greenhill School. In 2023, Peter was awarded the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award by Southern Methodist University’s Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.

Peter received a BA in Russian Literature from Yale College. He and his wife, Lael Brodsky, live in Dallas, TX, and have three children.

Alan Cohen is the Founder & CEO of the Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL), a Dallas-based nonprofit that works to advance economic mobility by using data to broker collaboration and innovation between residents, community organizations, and local government agencies.

Prior to CPAL, Cohen was best known for his work revisioning the PreK program at Dallas ISD and leading Washington State’s public-private partnership for early learning.

Cohen has served in appointed positions as the Co-Chair of the Dallas Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities and as a member of the Mayor’s Steering Committee on Workforce Development. Additionally, he volunteers on advisory and governing boards for TexProtects, Youth Guidance, United To Learn, and Dallas Thrives.

Cohen earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his BA in Sociology from Tulane University.

Why I joined the Commit Board: "Commit is unique in the impact it has on our Education system.  It activates an otherwise fragmented network of stakeholders to drive innovative solutions at scale to address the enormous challenge of educating our students and creating better outcomes for our communities."

‍

Pedro is a Senior Partner in the Dallas office of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm. He is the head of Bain’s Automotive & Mobility sector in the Americas and is also a leader in Bain’s Strategy and Performance Improvement practices areas.

Pedro has nearly 20 years of experience helping his clients create and implement pragmatic strategies that drive tangible, enduring results. He advises clients across a range of industries in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. His areas of focus with his clients include growth strategy, organizational effectiveness, and driving large-scale transformations. He has extensive global experience, most notably across Latin America and Europe.

Pedro is an advocate for education and has served on multiple advisory boards in the Dallas community throughout his career, including Best in Class DFW, the Emerging Leaders Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and the University of North Texas at Dallas' School of Education. He is also a graduate of the Dallas Regional Chamber’s Leadership Dallas program.

Pedro holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics and Managerial Studies from Rice University. Born in Mexico City, Pedro resides in Dallas with his wife and two young children. He enjoys triathlons and golf, as well as coaching his children’s youth soccer teams.

Angela Farley is the Former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at the Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC), which has been recognized as National Chamber of the Year.

Ms. Farley led the financial and operational efforts across the DRC’s strategic pillars of economic development, talent attraction, education and workforce, and diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as the pro-growth public policy agenda that supports these areas.

Prior to being named COO & CFO in January 2018, Ms. Farley was the DRC’s Senior Vice President of Education and Workforce for five years, where she led efforts to grow and develop the region’s existing talent and workforce. In this role, she was responsible for connecting business members with education programs, legislative efforts, and partnerships to support regional educational improvements and workforce readiness from pre-K through higher education.

Before joining the DRC in 2012, Ms. Farley was the CFO of Command and Control Environments in Grapevine, Texas. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Certified Management Accountant and consulted for several national firms, including Haynes and Boone LLP, serving clients in highly regulated industries with a specialty focus on government contracts and accounting investigations.

In 2018, Ms. Farley was chosen by Governor Abbott to represent the state of Texas at The White House Summit on State-Federal STEM Education, led by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She has also served on a number of boards and councils, including as Governor Abbott’s appointee to the Pathways to Technology Advisory Council, the Dallas County Workforce Board, the Texas Student Success Council, and the Board of Directors for the American Chamber of Commerce of Executives (ACCE). She currently serves on The EducateDallas PAC Board, the Junior League of Dallas’ Advisory Board, the Broadway Dallas Board, and the Board and Executive Committee of the DRC. She is also a member of the DRC’s Executive Women’s Roundtable.

Ms. Farley and her husband, Travis, live in Dallas and have two grown children.

Why I joined the Commit Board: I believe improving educational attainment in public schools is critical to the economic future of the city of Dallas, as well as our state and our nation. In the years ahead, it is imperative that we improve the adaptability and productivity of our workforce…..public school education effectiveness is essential to achieving this goal. It is also essential to alleviating poverty and insuring more of citizens are earning a living wage.

‍

Rob Kaplan is Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs and a member of the Management Committee. Previously, Mr. Kaplan served as President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Before joining the Fed, he was the Martin Marshall Professor of Management Practice and Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Business School (HBS).

Mr. Kaplan initially joined Goldman Sachs in 1983 and became a Partner in 1990. In 2002, he became Vice Chairman of the firm with global responsibility for the Investment Banking and Investment Management Divisions. He also served as Co-Chair of the Partnership Committee and Chair of the Goldman Sachs Pine Street Leadership Program. In 1998, Mr. Kaplan became Global Co-Head of Investment Banking and a member of the Management Committee. His previous roles included serving as Head of Asia Pacific Investment Banking, Co-Chief operating officer of global Investment Banking and Head of the Americas Corporate Finance Department.

Mr. Kaplan retired from the firm in 2006 to join HBS, becoming a Senior Director at that time.

Mr. Kaplan is Chairman of Project ALS and Co-Chairman of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. He is a board member of Harvard Medical School and St. Mark’s School of Texas, and is a member of the George W. Bush Institute’s Advisory Council. He is also an Advisory Board member of the Baker Institute. He serves on the Bipartisan Policy Center President’s Council and on the Board of Directors at The Holdsworth Center.

Mr. Kaplan is the author of three books on leadership, What You Really Need to Lead, What You’re Really Meant To Do, and What to Ask the Person in the Mirror.

‍

Why I joined the Commit Board: "I joined the Commit Board because I believe there is no better opportunity for a child or family to change their station in life than a quality education.  I wanted to be a part of this great team bringing options and opportunities for children across our great state."

‍

Kevin Malonson is the Executive Director of Teach Plus Texas, leading Teach Plus’ policy and instructional practice work in the state and supporting national teacher diversity initiatives. Kevin has over 25 years of experience in education, with particular expertise in college readiness and college access among students in urban, public school districts. He has worked in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, helping students realize their educational goals through direct assistance, teacher training, and collaboration with district administration.

Kevin was most recently the Texas Policy Manager at Teach Plus, where he managed the DFW Policy Fellowship and supported statewide policy efforts. He was a featured speaker from 2013-2018 on the United Negro College Fund’s Empower Me Tour, through which he presented to thousands of parents and students about college planning and admissions on tour stops accross the country. Kevin is a Dallas Morning News Community Voices contributing columnist and was the Single Gender Coordinator for the Young Men’s Leadership Academy at Fred Florence Middle School in Dallas ISD.

He received a B.A. in geography and a M.Ed. in education administration from the University of Texas at Austin, and served as the university’s Assistant Director of Admissions. Kevin is married and has two children in Dallas ISD schools.

Why I joined the Commit Board: "To truly create the opportunity for all Texas youth to thrive requires system-level thinking.  I believe that there is no other organization in Texas that is leveraging data to make system-level changes that improve educational outcomes for our students at scale like Commit is doing – and I’m honored to play a small part in that work."

‍

Dustin is the CEO of Hazel’s Expedited Freight, a mid-market freight and logistics company headquartered in Dallas, TX. Hazel’s focuses on time-critical industrial shipments ranging from local courier service to expedited cross-country shipments. Dustin joined Hazel’s in 2011 and has successfully achieved revenue growth of over 700% while increasing profits by a factor of more than 20x. Dustin is also the Managing Shareholder of Titan Logistics Solutions, which is a freight brokerage company based in Dallas. Prior to joining Hazel’s and founding Titan, Dustin was a Manager in the Chicago office of Bain & Company, a leading global consultancy. At Bain, Dustin led consulting teams in their work with Fortune 500 companies on topics ranging from Supply Chain Optimization to Sales & Marketing Effectiveness to Merger Integration to Portfolio Management. Prior to working with Bain, Dustin also spent time with Alliance Consulting, Fidelity Investments, and Walmart.com.

Dustin is heavily involved in the DFW community and is very passionate about education reform. In June of 2016, Dustin was elected to serve as a Trustee on the Board of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) where he served until June of 2023. Dustin represented District 2 which includes parts of North and East Dallas. Together with his colleagues, Dustin oversaw one of the largest public-school districts in the country with over 145,000 kids, roughly 20,000 employees and a budget of over $2B. Dustin previously served on the boards of the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Reading Partners North Texas, Uplift Education, Dallas After School, and Social Venture Partners Dallas.

Dustin is an alumnus of the Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) program where he received intensive leadership training from several former U.S. Presidents and their senior advisors. Dustin also previously served on the Education Council of the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors for the Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation, and the Mayor’s Poverty Task Force. Dustin is a recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s “40-under-40” award, an alumnus of Leadership Dallas, and a Finalist for the Dallas Foundation’s “Good Works Under 40” award. Dustin is also a Director of the Texas Lyceum and an active member of the Lone Star Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Dustin has a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the J.L. Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Dustin resides in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas and is married to his lovely wife, Denise. Together, they have four amazing children: Lilianna, Jackson, Hailey, and Madelyn.

Why I joined the Commit Board: "Commit’s combination of data analytics to identify solutions to systemic problems, trusted partnerships through which they can identify and spread best practices, and using advocacy to unlock sustainable government funding for those practices, is an incredibly powerful model for creating systemic, sustainable improvement in public education and ultimately, economic mobility for Dallas students."

‍

Libby McCabe has extensive experience as both an entrepreneur and an attorney. She was on the founding team of Axiom Law, a legal services company based in New York City serving primarily Fortune 500 clients. Prior to Axiom, she co-founded Vivre, a luxury catalog and online retailer. Prior to joining the Commit Partnership, Libby had a legal and consulting practice in New York City serving small and mid-sized companies. She began her legal career as a corporate mergers and acquisitions attorney at Baker Botts in New York.

Libby is a director of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and is a member of the 2013 class of Leadership DISD. She is also a board member and chairs the governance committee of the GO Project, a New York City non-profit offering social and academic services to disadvantaged children struggling in school. She is a member of the Texas and New York bars.

Libby graduated magna cum laude from both Duke University and Harvard Law School.

Alfreda B. Norman is an experienced bank and board executive deploying strategic financial frameworks to help public, private, and non-profit organizations transform communities. Alfreda’s mission is to financially empower marginalized communities by addressing market failures and economic injustice.

Ms. Norman’s distinguished career most recently includes 20 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas where she was expert in identifying economic challenges and opportunities, forging partnerships with all levels of stakeholders, and inspiring people and organizations to action using innovative solutions and practices. As the Dallas Fed’s immediate past Senior Vice President and Public Information Officer and a member of the Executive Leadership Team since 2014, Ms. Norman’s far-reaching responsibilities included setting strategy and driving results for the Bank’s corporate, executive, and digital communications, and for community and economic development initiatives. During her tenure, Alfreda amplified the Bank’s thought leadership to broad audiences promoting economic growth and inclusion and advancing understanding of the economy and the Federal Reserve System.

Among her other leadership roles, Norman was hired as one of Bank of America’s first neighborhood development officers where she directed the community reinvestment strategy to extend credit to low-income communities in Texas. She also previously held management positions at the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and The Container Store corporate headquarters in Dallas. Currently, Ms. Norman is Co-Chair of the Fort Worth Mayor’s Child-Care Blue Ribbon Action Committee and the Texas Opportunity Youth Network Leadership Council. Norman serves on a number of prestigious boards including the Communities Foundation of Texas, the Meadows Foundation, Commit Partnership, Dallas College Foundation, and UT Southwestern Medical Foundation. She is also an advisory board member for Year Up Texas and the Jr. League; and is a member of the Charter 100 and Dallas Assembly.

Norman earned a bachelor’s degree at Southern Methodist University and is an alum of the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Retail Banking. Alfreda and her husband raised two children, live in Dallas, and love to play tennis and travel. A highly sought out speaker and adviser who always puts her mission and the entities to which she is dedicated first, Ms. Norman leaves a lasting mark on the organizations and people with whom she collaborates, those she mentors, and the lives she changes through her work.

Jennifer Sampson is chief executive officer and president of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, the largest non-governmental funder of programs to improve education, income and health in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and southern Denton counties. Jennifer received her BBA from Baylor University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas. She has completed executive education courses through the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She started her professional career at Arthur Andersen in 1991 and ten years later joined United Way as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In 2004, she was promoted to chief operating officer.

Since being appointed as CEO and president in September 2011, Jennifer has built community confidence in the United Way’s mission and impact priorities, and achieved unprecedented results in resource development. These results were accomplished through revenue diversification, new and more innovative investment tools and strategies, and broader forms of collective community impact than the United Way has ever considered before.

Jennifer is a founding member of the United Way’s Women of Tocqueville Society and serves on the United Way Worldwide National Professional Council, Fortune 500 Task Force and Select Cities. She is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Dallas, and was a member of the Cattle Baron’s Ball Committee from 2001 to 2008. She has been a member of the Crystal Charity Ball Committee since 2009 and has served on the Baylor University Alumni Association Board of Directors and Executive Committee. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, the Business and Community Advisory Council of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank Board, and the Dallas Assembly. She was named the Women’s Council of Dallas County’s 2012 Woman of the Year, and was recognized as one of the youngest recipients of the Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award in 2013.

Jeremy joined the Rainwater Charitable Foundation team in 2009. RCF is private family foundation whose giving primarily focuses on PK-12 public education and medical research in neurodegenerative diseases both in the US and abroad.

Within education, the mission of the RCF is to help the nation’s most underserved students with a focus on a) expanding high-quality early childhood education options for parents, b) promoting high-quality school leadership and c) supporting cradle to career efforts in North Texas and South Carolina. The foundation also recently began making grants to efforts in India and East Africa.

Prior to joining Rainwater, Jeremy worked in management consulting for four years, first with McKinsey & Company, serving clients in consumer packaged goods, technology and health care; and later as an Associate Director with DenuoSource LLC, primarily in marketing and organizational design.

Prior to McKinsey, Jeremy worked in operations research at Merck & Co., where he managed global ops improvement projects in both Latin America and Asia. Jeremy is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, the Harvard Divinity School. He received his BS in engineering from the University of Arkansas. He currently serves as a board member at East Dallas Community Schools and the Texas Association for Infant Mental Health.

Why I joined the Commit Board: I get the opportunity to work with organizations around the country, and I believe that Commit is the most impactful organization of its kind anywhere. Real impact and change requires a strong ecosystem, and Commit provides incredible leadership in North Dallas and across the state.

‍

Anne Wicks is the Don Evans Family Managing Director, Opportunity and Democracy at the Bush Institute. In this role, she develops and oversees the policy, research, and engagement work of the Bush Institute’s Opportunity and Democracy team, which focuses on strengthening our democracy, pathways to opportunity, immigration, economic growth, accountability, and literacy.

Before joining the Bush Institute, Wicks served as an Associate Dean at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. Her portfolio included external relations, growth and strategy, and a variety of special projects including the launch of Ednovate Charter Schools. Over her career, she held leadership roles at Teach for America, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, and Stanford University.

Wicks holds a B.A in American Studies and a M.A. in Education from Stanford University (during which she taught 8th grade social studies), as well as a M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. A former captain of Stanford’s women’s volleyball team, she was part of three national championship teams, two as a player and one as an assistant coach. She currently serves as a board member for Instruction Partners, and she is a Pahara Fellow. She is the parent of a public school student.

Highly committed to public education, Todd is the founding Chairman and CEO of The Commit Partnership, the nation’s largest educational collective impact organization with over 200 institutions (including 15 school districts and eight higher-ed institutions educating over 700,000 students) supported by a dedicated backbone staff of ~60 employees. Together the Partnership and its backbone staff are collectively focused on improving post-secondary completion and economic mobility levels across the Dallas County region as well as the state of Texas. Todd also served for eight years as the Education Policy Advisor to former Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.

Todd is a senior trustee and former board chair for Austin College, a liberal arts college in Sherman, Texas. With his wife Abby, Todd was the founding chair for six years of the regional advisory board for Teach for America in Dallas/Ft. Worth, and together in 2007 they also helped establish the Uplift Williams Preparatory School, a K-12 free tuition public charter school operated by Uplift Education that educates over 1,500 primarily Hispanic children living in limited income homes in northwest Dallas. Todd also currently serves on the board of Fidelity Charitable, the nation’s largest donor advised fund with over $52 billion of assets under management.

Todd was appointed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in 2020 to serve on (i) the Texas Permanent School Fund Corporation (responsible for overseeing the investment of the state’s ~$50 billion endowment fund supporting Texas’ K-12 public education system); (ii) the year-long 2018 Texas Commission on Public School Finance (where he chaired its Outcomes Committee which ultimately produced 35 recommendations that served as the basis for Texas’ landmark HB3 legislation which equitably invested $11.5 billion in the state’s public K-12 education system in 2019) and (iii) the 2022 Texas Commission on Community College Funding, which recommended the strategic investment of ~$650 million of new biennial state funding (via Texas’ nation-leading HB8 legislation passed in 2023) to reward targeted outcomes and increase funding and accessibility for the state’s economically and academically disadvantaged students.

Todd is the former Chair of the Citizen Budget Review Commission for Dallas ISD ($1.7 billion budget educating ~155,000 students) and the former Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees for Uplift Education, a public charter school management organization serving over 20,000 students across the D/FW area. Todd is also the former chairman of both the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center (located at the University of Texas) and the Real Estate Council of Dallas, the city’s largest real estate organization.

Prior to dedicating his efforts full time as a volunteer to public education, Todd served as a partner and global co-head of Goldman Sachs’ real estate private equity investment area, retiring in 2010 following a 20-year career with the firm in their New York, Los Angeles and Dallas offices. Total assets under management purchased by GS-managed real estate funds exceeded $100 billion in cost, including $10 billion of equity invested by Goldman Sachs and its managing partners.

Todd earned an M.B.A. with distinction from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1982.

Moved by his personal beliefs, Daron Babcock couldn’t sit idly by as he witnessed his brothers and sisters in South Dallas be ravaged by institutional inequities. In 2012, he left a successful corporate career and moved from his home in North Dallas to immerse himself with the inner-city community of Bonton to learn about the lives, barriers, hopes and dreams of the people that call Bonton home. Known for crime, violence, and extreme poverty, Bonton was primed for change at the macro-level – something Daron knew was not only necessary, but possible.

Daron is referred to as a “social entrepreneur,” having started multiple successful social ventures; Bonton Honey Company, The Market at Bonton Farms, Bonton Farms Coffee House, Bonton Farmers Market, The Preservatory, and CityBuild Housing. Of all his ventures, the most notable, though, is Bonton Farms, one of the largest urban farms in the United States nestled in a once-forgotten neighborhood in South Dallas.

Daron is not only the Founder and CEO, but he is also a perpetual visionary and re-inventor of what’s possible. Bonton Farms is so much more than a farm, it is the catalyst that is helping to level the playing field; creating systemic change necessary so the residents of Bonton and others from marginalized neighborhoods all over the country can fully realize the potential created in them.

“Our goal is not to simply grow food because we’re in a food desert, but to address WHY Bonton is a food desert. We’re not here to fix broken people, but to be the hands and feet to fix broken systems.”

The Rev. Gerald Britt joined CitySquare in September 2004 to further his lifelong work of serving those around him. His pastoral and community experience and wisdom are rich assets to CitySquare. Gerald oversees the public policy efforts of CitySquare.

A high profile community leader for many years, Gerald has strong ties to the political, faith-based and business communities of Dallas.

Gerald most recently served as Senior Pastor for the New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, located in the heart of far South Dallas . During his 22 years there, he led the church in significant growth and organizational change. Because of his work in the church and surrounding neighborhoods, as well as years of leadership in Dallas Area Interfaith, Gerald has been honored as one of the 11 most influential community leaders by the Dallas Big Influence organization. He has been on the forefront of many social issues, including advocating for Parkland Hospital patients to receive better care to increasing voter turnout in South Dallas.

Regen has spent most of her life focused upon the lives of young children starting as a student teacher during high school (Foster Elementary, DISD). She has worked as a teacher, school counselor, head of school, mother and, for the last 30 years, as a civic leader for a variety of organizations serving young children and their families.

In the Dallas community, Regen’s service includes leadership positions at the Child Care Group, Dallas Assembly, Dallas Foundation, Junior League of Dallas, Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, Dallas County Community College Foundation Board, Dallas for Children, Educational First Steps, Girls’ Adventure Trails, The Hockaday School, Planned Parenthood and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. Regen served as the Chair of the Zero to Five Funders Collaborative, an initiative of over 40 Dallas area foundations working together to make measurable progress toward school readiness for one of Dallas’ most needy neighborhoods, which launched the Bachman Lake Together Family Center in 2016.

In business, Regen created an online product, PlumLife, designed to meet scheduling and communication needs of busy families. She is a former Director of Signature Bank Dallas. A Dallas native, Regen is a graduate of The Hockaday School, Yale University and holds a M.Ed from the University of North Texas.

Dale A. Petroskey was named President and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber on March 14, 2014. Mr. Petroskey brings to the Chamber a strong background in public policy, strategic communications, and non-profit management, having held leadership positions in all three sectors – public, private, and non-profit – for more than 30 years.

After graduating from Michigan State University, he lived 18 years in Washington, DC, where he served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Bill Goodling (R-PA), Assistant White House Press Secretary to President Ronald Reagan, and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation under then-Secretary Elizabeth Dole.

At The White House, Mr. Petroskey served as a spokesman for President Reagan and led the staff responsible for the preparation of every official White House document released to the media. In addition, he traveled extensively, and accompanied the President to his historic first meetings with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, in Geneva, Switzerland in November 1985, and in Reykjavik, Iceland in October 1986. He also accompanied the President and Mrs. Reagan to Camp David on 10 different weekends.

From 1988-1999, Mr. Petroskey served at the National Geographic Society, the world’s largest educational membership organization. He was named the first-ever Vice President of Public Affairs in 1988, and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Mission Programs in 1996. In that role, he was the senior executive responsible for the committee which funded scientific research and exploration projects for well-known scientists and explorers such as Jane Goodall, Bob Ballard, and Sylvia Earle. He also oversaw a 50-state geography education program, which still includes the National Geography Bee, hosted by Alex Trebek, as well as exhibits, the public lectures program, and fundraising.

From 1999-2008, Mr. Petroskey was President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where he was the primary link to all living Hall of Famers and their families and led the day-to-day operations of one of the nation’s best-known and most respected museums, a premier symbol of American achievement. While there, he was instrumental in launching the museum’s first-ever national traveling exhibition, Baseball As America, which was seen by more than 2 million visitors in 15 respected museums throughout the U.S., including the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science in Fair Park. Membership grew from 4,000 to 32,000 during his tenure, and he also helped create the Hall of Fame’s Development Office, which now provides an important source of revenue. One of his greatest sources of satisfaction and pride was working closely with the Board to initiate and implement a one-time-only, 5-year study and process for considering and electing Negro League players, managers, and executives. That process culminated in the election of 17 Negro Leaguers in 2006, nearly doubling the number in the Hall of Fame.

From 2008-2010, Mr. Petroskey served as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Community Development for the Texas Rangers, where he led the reorganization of the Texas Rangers Foundation, which resulted in a focus on children in need and a much greater awareness in the community. He also made more than 70 speeches throughout North Texas to share the story of the Rangers on the field and in the community. While with the Rangers, Mr. Petroskey served on the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee; the Arlington Chamber of Commerce Foundation Board; the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau Board; and the United Way of Greater Dallas campaign.

Most recently, Mr. Petroskey has been Vice President, Public Affairs, for Occidental Petroleum Corporation, the nation’s fourth largest energy company. He worked mostly with Oxy’s five general managers throughout California and other key senior-level managers on challenging legislative and regulatory issues, local community engagement, public education, and charitable contributions.

Mr. Petroskey and his wife, Ann, both graduates of Michigan State University, have been married for 35 years. They have three grown children: Kathleen, an SMU graduate living in Dallas and working for Worldwide Express; Frank, a Tufts University graduate living and working in New York City; and Claire, a College of Charleston graduate living and working in Charleston, SC.

Matthew Randazzo is president and CEO of The Dallas Foundation, a prominent charity that connects donors with nonprofits.

Previously, Randazzo served as CEO of the Dallas-based National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), an organization that promotes college readiness in math and science. As CEO at NMSI, Randazzo led the organization’s efforts to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement in communities across the country. He joined NMSI in 2014 as chief growth and strategy officer, responsible for planning and implementing NMSI’s external engagement strategies. Before joining NMSI, Randazzo served as founding president and CEO of Choose to Succeed and as chief growth officer for IDEA Public Schools.

“My work in education has been incredibly rewarding, and I look forward to focusing on the education issues championed by The Dallas Foundation,” said Randazzo. “But I’m also excited to have an opportunity to drive impact beyond that one sector.”

In 2016, Randazzo was named to the 10th class of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Children and Family Fellowship, a select group of leaders from the public, nonprofit and academic sectors dedicated to leading measurable improvements for children and families. The Fellows undergo a rigorous educational program calculated to equip them to lead on the national stage.

Randazzo earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and Latin American studies from Albion College in Michigan and his master’s in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. He and wife Amanpreet Randazzo, a clinical psychologist, have one son.

Florence Shapiro began her career in the Texas Senate in 1993. A former small business owner, her journey into Texas politics began years prior and miles away from the Texas Capitol. While she’s been a highly effective advocate on behalf of her constituents in District 8, her career in public service spans four decades. As a former public school teacher, she first entered elective office as a Plano City Council member. Following six terms on the Council, she was elected Mayor of Plano. During this time, she also served as President of the Texas Municipal League and the North Texas Council of Governments.

Senator Shapiro’s issues while serving in the Senate have been many. A champion of children, she passed landmark legislation to protect against sexual predators. Her series of bills known as Ashley’s Laws, protects against, adjudicates, and punishes sex offenders whose victims are children. These laws, which went into effect in 1995, were national benchmarks, and Senator Shapiro continues to dedicate herself to improving the safety and security of our children.

In 1999, Senator Shapiro became chair of the Senate State Affairs Committee and committed herself to the issue of transportation, creating the first fund for Texas mobility. In 2003, the Senator became chair of the Senate Education Committee, where she passed legislation to overhaul the state’s school finance system. Her landmark legislation, House Bill 1, significantly lowers property taxes, provides more money for schools, along with a teacher pay raise and the first-ever incentive pay program, educational reforms at the high school level to promote college readiness and curb dropouts, and more meaningful accountability for schools.

Her consistent leadership over the years has earned the Senator many honors. Senator Shapiro was recently honored by Dallas Can! Academy with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The Academy, a non-profit organization giving young Texans a second chance through relationship-based education, presented the award to the Senator at the Academy’s 17th Annual Motherhood Luncheon. Senator Shapiro was recognized for her outstanding contributions to education and her work to improve the lives of children across Texas while also showing great dedication to her family and community. Prior to this recognition, she was named to the Legislative Honor Roll by the Texas Association of Realtors, was awarded Inside Collin County Business’s Celebration of Enterprise Award for the public official business partner of the year, the Government Technology Conference’s Bob Bullock Award for Public Stewardship, Girl Scouts of the USA Tejas Council’s Real Women Award, and the Outstanding Service Award from Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas.

Today, the Senator serves as Texas representative to The Council of State Governments (CSG) Education Policy Task Force. She also serves on the Southern Regional Education Board and the Education Commission of the States, coalitions of elected officials and education leaders that address issues such as long-range planning, policy proposals, and the advancement of education among the states. Senator Shapiro is also an appointee to the Governor’s Criminal Justice Advisory Council, Co-Chair of the Study Commission on Region C Water Supply, and a member of the Standing Committee on Education for the National Conference of State Legislators.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Senator Shapiro holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. In addition to chairing the Senate Education Committee, she currently serves on the Senate Committees on Finance; Transportation and Homeland and Security; and Administration. She and her husband, Howard, live in Plano. They have three children and nine grandchildren.

Dolores Sosa Green served as the chief executive officer of Trinity River Mission (TRM) in West Dallas from 2005 to 2018. During her tenure she grew TRM to a $1.6 million annual operating budget, grew partnerships from five to 74 collaborative organizations, and increased the number of students served by 100% to over 550 annually. An average 97% of students have graduated high school each year since 2005 and 92% have enrolled in postsecondary education. Much like Dolores, oftentimes these students were the first in their family to cross a graduation stage. Prior to TRM, she had eleven successful years with Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas (currently Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star).

Ms. Green has dedicated her personal and professional life to social change and engagement with nonprofit groups and currently serves on the leadership team of Strong Schools Strong Dallas (SSSD) – actively advocating for every child in Dallas ISD to have equitable access to a quality education. Because of her advocacy work, in 2017 she was presented with the Leadership ISD Visionary Leader Award and the Texas Organizing Project Community Champion Award. Dolores also volunteered as a Big Sister from 2002 to 2016 and as a literacy tutor from 2007 to 2016. As the first in her family to earn a high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree, and a graduate degree, she felt it was important to mentor, guide, and teach young people that their circumstances don’t determine their destiny.

Dolores is a proud graduate of North Dallas High School who earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She continued to earn her Master of Education with a counseling focus from the University of North Texas.

Dolores is happily married to her husband Anthony and is the mother of two beautiful daughters, Lauren and Maya.

As Managing Director for Educate Texas (formerly the Texas High School Project), George ensures the organization's day-to-day operations align with its mission of preparing all Texas students to graduate from high school ready for college, career and life. Prior to joining Educate Texas, George co-founded Rosetta, an advertising agency fueled by its analytical approach to creating marketing strategies. He was responsible for external client cultivation and management at Rosetta, along with internal infrastructure development. After returning to Dallas from the East Coast in 2009, George began to focus on the significant gaps and challenges in our education system.

Educate Texas allows him a data-driven platform to marry his entrepreneurial passion with his desire to help all students achieve solid foundations for their futures. George earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from New York University, and is a Dallas native and graduate of J.J. Pearce High School.

Florencia Velasco Fortner is The Concilio’s president and CEO. An immigrant from Mexico at age six, you might have thought she was destined to become a statistic. She credits her success to the encouragement of her uneducated parents and the support she received from people and programs that invested in her.

Today, at the helm of The Concilio, she’s returning the favor as she champions disadvantaged children and families. Since she joined The Concilio in 2005, the organization has quadrupled its assets and increased families served from 2,000 to over 10,000.

When she’s not leading The Concilio’s strategic efforts, Florencia dedicates herself to volunteerism and strengthening her leadership skills through continuing education. In 2010, she was named an American Marshall Memorial Fellow and became a graduate of the Leadership Dallas program. She is a member of the Dallas Assembly, Hispanic 100 and the Leadership Council of Commit! Additionally, Florencia serves on the advisory board of the Dallas Women’s Foundation and the board of directors for Jubilee Park and Community Center, John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University, the Nonprofit CEO Council, and Texas Leadership Forum.

Florencia is married to Bruce Fortner and is the mother of an active 11-year old daughter. She recently completed a term as president of the PTA at Sidney Lanier Elementary School in Dallas. She is the first lady of New Mount Moriah Baptist Church and serves on the Deaconess Board.

Ellen spent two decades working in the investment, healthcare and real estate industries, with her last role as a partner and portfolio manager at Carlson Capital in Dallas, Texas. In 2005, she refocused her career and interests on education and at-risk youth. She serves on various education-focused foundation boards and grant committees including Dallas Social Venture Partners, the 0-5 Funders’ Collaborative and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation. She is a member of the Education Task Force for West Dallas and has had a nearly two decade commitment to Girls Inc. Ellen also serves as a member of the Investment Committees for the MR and Evelyn Hudson Foundation, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, and the Texas A&M Foundation (advisory member). She has also served in multiple roles at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, most recently as a member of the Business School Fund and chair of multiple class reunion fundraising campaigns. She was the recipient of the John Gardner Volunteer Leadership Award in 2006.

Ellen received an MBA from Stanford University and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. She has also earned both a CPA and CFA designation.