John Grimes, Chair
Past President - Austin Ribbon & Computer (ARC)

John became Vice President of ARC in 2003 and was promoted to President in early 2007. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree from McMurry University, John has guided companies ranging from new start ups to corporations with annual revenues over $750M. ARC is the largest reseller of Dell computers to state and local government agencies in Texas. From 2003 to 2006 ARC experienced a 261% jump in revenue and was recognized as the fifth fastest-growing company in Central Texas (Austin Business Journal, September 2005) and the largest woman-owned business in Central Texas (Austin Business Journal, August 2006 & 2007).

John currently sits on several boards including those of major IT manufactures, the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications, and was a founding member of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) HUB Advisory Board.

 

Manuel Azuara, CPA - Chair Elect
Partner - Bridgepoint Consulting

Manuel’s primary focus at Bridgepoint is growing business in the small and mid-sized company segment across Texas.  Manuel has spent a significant portion of his career helping businesses in this segment and understands the unique challenges that business owners face.  Prior to joining Bridgepoint, Manuel served as the President of Texas Corporate Advisors, LLC, a firm dedicated to providing financial leadership to small and mid-sized companies; as well as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for Public Strategies, Inc.; and began his career working for KPMG, LLP, providing attestation and accounting services for a variety of entities, including hospitals, health care suppliers, city governments and school districts. Manuel has provided financial services for a broad spectrum of both public- and private-sector clients.  He received his Accounting degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994.

Manuel is a National Board Member for the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA) and a former President of the Austin TX chapter.  ALPFA currently has over 30 chapters nationwide and membership exceeds 8,500 members.  He has also participated in the Junior Achievement Program and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program throughout Central Texas.

 

Cole Harmonson - Treasurer
Co-Founder, President & CEO, Far West Capital

Cole Harmonson is co- founder, president and CEO of Far West Capital (FWC), an independent asset based lending and factoring company based in Central Texas, since 2007, FWC provides working capital to growing companies by purchasing or lending on Accounts Receivable and Inventory. FWC serves companies based in Texas with needs of less than $5mm.

Prior to FWC, Cole served as founder and senior vice president of State Bank’s Working Capital Finance Group (WCFG), the asset based lending and factoring division of State Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas United Bancshares, Inc., a publicly held Texas commercial banking company headquartered in La Grange, Texas. Cole joined State Bank in 1996 to start the WCFG, his primary responsibilities included full P&L oversight, managing new business development, credit and operations oversight, and ensuring execution of all strategic objectives.

Prior to joining State Bank in 1996, Cole was vice president at The National Bank of Texas in Fort Worth, Texas and has been employed in community banking and commercial finance his entire career. Cole holds a BBA in Finance from Texas Tech University where he graduated in 1993.

Cole resides in Central Texas and is active in the community. He is a current board member of the Commercial Finance Association, current board member of the American Factoring Association, past chairman of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Access to Capital committee, board member of Entrepreneur’s Organization, member of the Independent Banker’s Association of Texas, member of the Texas Banker’s Association, member of International Factoring Association, and member of the Association for Corporate Growth.

 

Josh L. Galatzan - Secretary
First Vice President - Investments, Wealth Advisory Services

Josh Galatzan is First Vice President, Investments at Raymond James & Associates. Prior to joining Raymond James, Josh served as vice president and senior wealth management advisor with Merrill Lynch & Co.

In addition to holding a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Texas at Austin, Josh has earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst certification from the Wharton School of Business' executive education program. He is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association and is involved with several local organizations, including The Rise School of Austin, The Sportsman's Club, The Seton Forum, and is a member of the Advisory Board for R Bank of Texas.

Josh resides in Austin with his wife (Emily) and 4 children (Charlie, Anna, Libby and Molly).

 

Scott A. Carr
Broker and Developer - Carr Development Inc.

Scott was born and raised in Austin, Texas and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin. Following graduation, Scott was hired by one of the premier commercial real estate firms in the country, then known as Cushman Realty Corporation, which later merged with Cushman & Wakefield, Inc; focusing primarily on tenant representation in Texas and throughout the country. While in Houston, Scott represented many prominent companies and successfully negotiated leases on their behalf for nearly one million square feet of space.

Scott frequently worked for and with his father, Kenneth D. Carr, while at The University of Texas and decided to move his family back to Austin and work with Carr Development Inc. as a broker and developer.

Actively involved in the community, Scott is a past or current member of: the Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA); RECA’s Leadership Development Council (LDC); Young Men’s Business League (YMBL); Seton Forum; Big Brothers Big Sisters; the Austin Breakfast Group; International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC); and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). As an avid outdoorsman, Scott is also a member of Austin Woods and Waters Club, Coastal Conservation Association, and Ducks Unlimited. Scott and his wife Kim have two young children, Jack and Caroline.

 

Dori Flores
Executive Director - Seton Fund

Dori is the Executive Director of The Seton Fund, a fund development and endowment arm of the Daughters of Charity healthcare ministry of Central Texas. In this role, she provides leadership and direction for all of The Seton Fund’s fundraising initiatives. Prior to The Seton Fund, Dori worked at the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Austin, Brackenridge Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Austin, and Clear Channel Radio. She received her BS in Communications from the University of Texas. Dori currently serves as the Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Junior League of Austin, and was a finalist for the 2008 Austin Under 40 Awards.

Patricia V. Hayes
Principal/Owner of PVH Consulting Group

Patricia V. Hayes is the Principal/Owner of PVH Consulting Group, a public affairs and management consulting firm in Austin, Texas. A licensed attorney in Texas since 1994, Ms. Hayes has practiced in the areas of education, legislative policy and administrative law. She has a diverse professional background, addressing legislative and public policy matters in all areas of K-12 public and higher education in Texas. In the public sector, she most recently served as the Vice Chancellor of Governmental Relations and Education Policy at Texas State University System. She has also served as the Associate Commissioner for Educator Quality and P-16 Initiatives at the Texas Education Agency, the Special Assistant for Education to Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff and as a Director for the Subcommittee on Higher Education in the Texas Senate.

In the private sector, Ms. Hayes has represented the interests of private colleges and institutions in Texas as well as those of classroom teachers and school personnel in both legal and legislative matters. Active in the legal profession, she has served on several bar association boards, including the Texas Young Lawyers Association, the Austin Bar Association, the Austin Young Lawyers Association (where she served as President in 2002) and the Texas Legal Protection Plan where she is currently Chair-elect. An avid supporter of community service, she has served on several non-profit boards, including the Center for Child Protection, Greenlights for Nonprofit Success and Law Focused Education Inc. She graduated from the George McConnell School of Law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Courtney Read Hoffman
Owner, CRH Capitol Communications

Courtney is owner of CRH Capitol Communications, a Texas governmental relations firm that represents non-profit associations, corporations and individuals in the political, legislative and regulatory realms. Affiliated for many years with the PR firm, Read-Poland Associates, she moved into the legislative arena under Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff then opened her firm providing strategic counsel for navigating the world of state government.

Active in a number of preservation efforts, Courtney is a member of Preservation Texas, Friends of the Governor's Mansion, Texas Downtown Association, and is past president of The Heritage Society of Austin. A former public school teacher and dyslexia therapist, she has served the education community on bond and textbook committees for the Austin Independent School District. She is a past board member for University Christian Church and the Texas Bible Chair and is currently on the Texas Book Festival Auction Committee and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Austin.

Courtney graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a BA in English and an Elementary Education Certification. She and her husband, Austin business consultant Clark Hoffman, have three children, Faye, Katherine and Read.

 

David J. Kenyon
Vice President of Worldwide Channel Marketing - AMD

David Kenyon is Vice President of Worldwide Channel Marketing at AMD. In this role, he is responsible for working with sales, product marketing and the product groups to deliver integrated and global Consumer, Commercial and Graphics demand generation campaigns. Previously, David served as Vice President of WW Storage Marketing and Business Operations at Sun Microsystems where he was responsible for growing revenue and profitability across all of Sun’s storage products and services. He joined Sun through the integration of StorageTek and prior to that he held a number of leadership positions in storage, telecommunications and strategy consultancy.

David has a masters’ degree in business administration from Harvard University, and bachelor’s degrees in both finance and in economics from Loyola Marymount University.

 

Jim Montgomery
Managing Partner - DLA Piper

As the managing partner of the DLA Piper Austin office, Jim works with high growth technology companies (Internet, software, microchip and life science) in their formation, funding, growth and exit. Jim has extensive experience in venture fund structures and formations (including Murphree Ventures Partners Fund V, Southeast Interactive Technology Fund IV, and Virgo Capital Fund I, L.P.) and has represented venture funds (including Austin Ventures, Centerpoint Ventures, Trellis Partners, Triton Ventures, Murphree Ventures and Southeast Interactive, among others) in fund investments, completing well over 200 venture financings as either fund counsel or company counsel.

Jim has served as a board member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Breakthrough Austin, Ronald McDonald House and Foundation for the Homeless.

 

Neal Nolan
President, GOVantage, LLC

Neal is President of GOVantage, LLC, an organization that helps its clients develop customer care solutions for state and local government markets. His focus is in the area of Health and Human Services, IT products and services, and business process outsourcing.

Mr. Nolan is a former Executive from IBM where he heldleadership positions as a Partner in IBM Global Services’ consulting and outsourcing practices. Mr. Nolan has lead global customer care initiatives for IBM’s clients and has implemented enterprise customer relationship management systems while consistently growing IBM’s professional services business. With his leadership, IBM developed it’s $3 billion customer care outsourcing service. Prior to IBM, he worked as a senior manager and software developer for Andersen Consulting, currently named Accenture.

He is a committed to community service and currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Mobile Loaves and Fishes, an outreach ministry to the homeless operating in 5 US cities with over 11,000 volunteers. Mr. Nolan resides in Austin, Texas with his wife and two teenage daughters. He and his family are parishioners of St. John Neumann Catholic Church.

 

Dave Shaw
President - Russell Shaw

Prior to co-founding Russell/Shaw, Dave was vice president at TateAustin where he directed account service and business development for the firm. Dave has a broad range of marketing experience that spans advertising, branding, public relations and public affairs work with a number of household-name companies such as Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, AT&T, AOL, Seton Family of Hospitals, James Avery and H-E-B. His work at Russell/Shaw has been featured in PRWeek, the national trade magazine for public relations. His work has also been recognized with industry awards from PRSA, Advertising Federation, Texas Public Relations Association and International Association of Business Communicators.

In the community, Dave is a board member of Greenlights for Nonprofit Success and the Austin Public Library Foundation, where he served as board president and is currently a member of the executive committee. He has also served as a board member of Leadership Austin and YouthLaunch, and as PR Committee Chair for the Texas Book Festival. Dave earned his M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Nikhil Sinha
Chairman - Works Inc. & Director - HCL Infosystems

Nikhil Sinha was, until recently, founder President and Co-CEO of EMR Technology Ventures, a leading provider of business process and technology outsourcing services to the financial services and healthcare industries. Before founding EMR, Nikhil was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining UT, Nikhil served as Executive Vice President and CEO of eFunds Corporation, a leading provider of payment management and global outsourcing solutions.

Nikhil is currently non-executive Chairman of Works Inc., an Austin based payment management company, and is a Director of HCL Infosystems, a global provider of information technology solutions. He is a Director Emeritus of the US-India Business Council, the principal private sector organization representing US companies doing business in India, is a Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Austin Chapter) and serves on the advisory board of Global Equations, ProspX and Adams Capital Management. Nikhil is a member of the Advisory Board of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the Board of the Heritage Society of Austin. Nikhil has an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Nikhil is married to Dr. Laura Stein, Associate Professor of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. They have three children.

 

Larry Warder
Former Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Department of Education

Larry Warder recently retired from the U.S. Department of Education following his 2002 retirement from Deloitte & Touche. In his 33-year tenure with Deloitte & Touche, Larry worked his way from consultant to partner, managing director, director of operations and finally global director of operations. After retiring from Deloitte & Touche in 2002, President George W. Bush nominated Larry as the U.S. Department of Education’s Chief Financial Officer on April 25, 2006. In 2007, he was designated as Acting Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid (FSA).

Larry holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from the University of Akron and a master of business administration degree from Kent State University. He is still a certificated public accountant, and has maintained certification throughout his career as both a management accountant and management consultant. While living in New York City, he served on the Lincoln Center's leadership council, and since his first retirement, he has served as the treasurer for the Bee Creek United Methodist Church in Spicewood. Warder and his wife, Dianne, have two children and seven grandchildren.

 

Kristen Wicke - Past Chair
Partner - Maxwell, Locke & Ritter

Kristen received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Master of Professional Accounting from the Professional Program in Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin in 1996. After graduation, Kristen worked as an auditor for the Houston office of Ernst & Young. After participating in the audit of a non-profit organization for the first time, she knew she had found her calling. She found the concept of being motivated by something greater than profit very compelling.

Before joining Maxwell, Locke & Ritter, Kristen worked for Hood & Strong, a California based public accounting firm, and Montemayor & Associates, an Austin public accounting firm that focused most of its practice on non-profit clients. Kristen joined Maxwell, Locke & Ritter in August 2005 to continue her professional goal of serving non-profits by providing quality audit services. She is on the board of the Heritage Society of Austin and is a member of the Girlstart Finance Committee. Kristen believes that if we all treat each other with honesty, respect, compassion and selflessness, the world would be a better place.