GUEST SPEAKERS
SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 MEETING:
Dr. Simon Mak
Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship Associate Director, Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship
PhD, Applied Science (Systems Engineering focus), Southern Methodist University Lyle School of Engineering
MBA, Finance, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business
SB, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jonathan Alpart
Jonathan Alpart (潘佳朗) is a born and raised Texan. He earned a B.A. in Mandarin Chinese with a minor in Mathematics at UT Austin in 2008. His studies included two summers in East China as a volunteer English teacher, and a semester abroad in Beijing at a language immersion
program. After graduating, he moved to Beijing, where he worked and lived for seven years.
There he worked as a writer for a city life & culturemagazine, managed a Western restaurant, and was an instructor for New Oriental, before beginning his five-year career as a journalist at China Radio International in the English Department.
In 2015, he returned to his hometown of Dallas and began his real estate business with Fathom Realty with a focus on Chinese immigrants and investors, as well as an export business selling American products in China, which he operates along with his wife. Learn more about Mr. Alpart at www.keymeetdoor.com
OCTOBER 13, 2018 MEETING:
Scott Magids
Scott Magids is co-founder and CEO of Motista.
Motista’s predictive intelligence enables business leaders to accelerate profitable growth by activating Emotional Connections with customers. Scott has led Motista to develop and deliver pioneering predictive intelligence solutions, resulting in accelerated growth for F-1000 brands.
Scott has authored articles in leading publications, including Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine and CFO Magazine and spoken at leading conferences organized by Google and Corporate Executive Board.
Prior to co-founding Motista, Scott led the technology ventures unit of the University of Maryland, where he helped start, finance and grow technology companies, and taught entrepreneurship courses. Earlier in his career, Scott led a predictive analytics firm supporting strategic and financial investors.
Learn more about Mr. Magids at www.motista.com
NOVEMBER 11, 2018 MEETING:
Kandace Walter
Attorney Kandace D. Walter has more than a decade of relevant and valuable legal experience to satisfy the needs of her clients.
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Prior to the creation of Walter Legal PLLC, Ms. Walter honed her unique skills and legal perspective at an intellectual property and business litigation boutique law firm, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and the Dallas City Attorney’s Office.
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Ms. Walter is also currently an Adjunct Professor at Collin County Community College. She is a wonderful addition to our YES speakers team!
Learn more about Ms. Walter at www.walterlegal.com
FEBRUARY 17, 2019 MEETING:
Mayor Jeff Cheney
Native Texan Jeff Cheney was elected Mayor of Frisco, Texas, in May 2017, and holds the distinction of being the youngest Mayor of Frisco.
Since Mayor Cheney has taken office, Frisco has been recognized as the fastest growing city in America and the #1 Best Place to Live by Money Magazine.
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Mayor Cheney and his wife, Dana, are the co-founders of The Cheney Group, a Frisco-based residential realty firm.
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​Mayor Cheney attended the University of Texas-Austin where he was recognized with Highest Honors for his Bachelors and Masters in Accounting.
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Ann Anderson
Ann Anderson, Business owner for Anderson Agency and currently serves in Frisco Chamber of Board Director, and Frisco Art Association.
She is the recipient 2017 Frisco Chamber of Commerce Chairman's Award and volunteer of the Year 2018!
Debbie Chang
Debbie Chang is a devoted alumni volunteer for her alma mater, Duke University, sitting on the regional board and offering her time for admissions interviews. She has also helped lead diversity alumni programs for her husband’s alma mater, Cornell University. Debbie Chang is the managing member of Summit Hilltop Group, LLC, a real estate investment and advisory firm. She has over a dozen years of expertise in residential real estate brokerage and asset management across multiple states, but her real passion has been in helping learners and their parents better navigate the increasingly varied and often confusing secondary education landscape. ​Prior to her time in real estate, Debbie was a marketing executive in a number of leading companies, including Amazon.com, Clorox and American Express.
MARCH 28, 2019 MEETING:
Jerry Song
Jerrica Anderson
APRIL 28, 2019 MEETING:
Eric Evans
Eric Evans is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGRY), a leading healthcare company
headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. Founded in 2004, Surgery Partners is one of the largest and fastest growing surgical services businesses in the country, with more than 180 locations in 32 states, including ambulatory surgery centers, surgical hospitals, multi-specialty physician practices, and urgent care
facilities. It has a differentiated outpatient delivery model focused on providing high quality, cost-effective solutions for surgical and related ancillary care in
support of both patients and physicians.
Mr. Evans received his MBA from Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and holds a Bachelor's of Science in industrial management from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Prior to his career in healthcare, Mr. Evans worked as an industrial engineer and material flow coordinator for the Saturn Corp., a former subsidiary of General Motors. While he enjoyed working in manufacturing, he felt his career was lacking the kind of purpose
he needed. After realizing that the healthcare industry offered him the chance to utilize his leadership skills and to help people in need, he jumped at the opportunity to join Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare in 2004 when he finished his MBA degree from Harvard University.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 MEETING:
Kevin Yu
Kevin Yu is a Dallas violinist and businessman. In the past, Mr. Yu has played with the Las Colinas Symphony and served as the concertmaster of the UT Austin University Orchestra to name a few. As well as being a musician, Mr. Yu is also the founder of Coregami, the first technical formal wear company in the world. He has also worked at Cisco Systems, KPMG, Atmos Energy and other startups. If you would like to learn more about Mr. Yu's company, please feel free to visit www.coregami.com
OCTOBER 20, 2019 MEETING:
Viking Tao
Viking Tao is a director at Kane Russell Coleman Logan Law Firm and practices in the Business & Corporate and Real Estate Sections of the Firm. Ms. Tao is also a member of the Firm’s China Practice Group. She advises Chinese companies in establishing their presence in the U.S. and in connection with their strategic expansion in the U.S., such as asset and stock acquisitions and establishing strategic alliances with American businesses. She also advises American companies in connection with their investments in China and business negotiations with Chinese companies. She also attended Peking University.
David Gu
David Gu is an entrepreneur and Honorable Chairman of the United States-China Chamber of Commerce (USCCC). He is president and founder of Meridian Office Systems and Branch General Manager of Sharp Business Systems, a direct sales division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, a consumer electronics distributor.
NOVEMBER 10, 2019 MEETING:
Alex He
Alex He is a financial advisor at Morgan Stanely, an investment bank and financial services company. Previously, he worked at Bank of America and MD American Energy. He attended Texas Christan University for his MBA in Energy, Real Estate, and Finance and Southern Methodist University for his bachelor's and master's degrees in law. Additionally, he is a licensed attorney in both Texas and China.
JANUARY 26, 2020 MEETING:
Representative Matt Shaheen
State Representative Matt Shaheen serves the citizens of District 66 in the Texas House of Representatives, representing West Plano and far North Dallas. He serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means and as Vice Chair of the House Urban Affairs Committee. Previously, Mr. Shaheen served five years on the Collin County Commissioners Court representing the citizens of Precinct 1.
Mr. Shaheen is consistently ranked among the top most conservative, pro-business legislators in Texas. Matt is passionate about ensuring Texas remains a shining example to the rest of America through low taxes, limited government, education excellence and traditional values. Representative Shaheen has been married for 25 years to his wife Robyn, and together, they have three children. Matt and his family attend Prestonwood Baptist Church where Matt serves as a Deacon, an usher and on the church's pregnancy center board.
Matt is a native of Virginia where he received his Bachelor's degree from Randolph-Macon College and won All Conference honors in football. He also holds a Master's degree from SMU.
MAY 30, 2020 MEETING:
Dr. Bob Hendler
Dr Robert (Bob) Hendler currently serves as the Chief Medical office of Texas Hospital Association (THA), has oversight on care delivery and quality improvement on Texas hospitals statewide. He also serves as the EMIS advisory board member for Southern Methodist University (SMU). Prior to his current appointment, he served 5 years in Parkland hospital as Chief Quality and Safety Officer, and 15 years in Tenet Healthcare as the Vice President and Regional Chief Medical Officer for the company. Tenet Healthcare is one of the largest investor-owned healthcare services company in U.S. Dr Hendler is a Clinical Professor of Medicine for UT Southwestern Medical School, he had 20+ years of experience of private clinical practice, specialized in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. Dr Hendler and his wife live in Preston Hollow, Dallas TX.​